Harry Potter And The HalfDead Riddle
by Half-BPrincess
Summary: The Dark Lord could be called many things, but a fool is not one of them. Albus Dumbledore miscalculated. Harry missed a Horcrux. The Dark Lord is back, but this time, his followers aren't so loyal... NOT SLASH
1. Prologue: The Aftermath

- Prologue -

The Aftermath

It was over. Finally over. The fighters had gathered in the Great Hall, some mourned lost family, and friends that would never see another dawn. Others clung to those they had left. A small contingent of Aurors, sent by Rufus Scrimgeour had corralled the remaining Death Eaters into a classroom, and warded them inside, before collecting the fallen Death Eaters.

Nymphadora Tonks openly wept at the body of Bellatrix Black-Lestrange.

"She looks so like my mom, this could have been her!" The metamorphmagus sobbed into the shoulder of Kingsley Shacklebolt.

All around the school, destruction was evident. Doors blown from their hinges, scorch marks on the ceilings. Scattered suits of armour lay where they had been blasted to pieces in their protection of Hogwarts. Some portraits had been slashed, having been hit with Sectumsempra, or Diffindo. The infirmary was completely full, each bed containing an injured warrior. Poppy Pomfrey scurried round, sending her small team of underage students to give what potions they could to numb the pain, until she herself, could confirm their diagnoses.

And the Saviour, the Boy-Who-Lived, Harry Potter, sat in a corner of the Great Hall, head in hands. His ever faithful friend, the brains of the Golden Trio had her arms wrapped around him, protectively. Together, they grieved for every witch and wizard, every giant and centaur, every family decimated, every colleague lost, every friend who would never laugh again. But most of all, they grieved for the boy with the dirt on his nose, the chess player extraordinaire, the hot-tempered keeper, the strategist of their team of three. They grieved for Ronald Bilius Weasley, their best friend.

Hermione spoke first, her head rising slightly, to show her red-rimmed eyes to the rest of the world. Her voice wavered, and was rough from the tears she had shed.

"I... I knew that one of us... one of us would probably... not be here..." She gasped out, shoulders shuddering. "But, I... I guess I always thought it would be me, you know?" When she received no response, she endeavoured to continue. "I mean, I was the most likely to... you know. I did the equations, I factored it all in. Who would they aim at, of the three of us? Not you, Harry, you were for him to duel. So who do they choose? The pure-blood or... or me, the... Mudblood? I thought it was obvious. I went into this battle knowing I would... die. And I was ready to die for you Harry, it would have been so right to die for this cause. He wouldn't blame you, you know? Just like I wouldn't have blamed you. We knew what we were doing, when we followed you. We knew what could happen."

"Knew what you were doing when you were twelve, did you?" Harry raised his head, his eyes too, red-rimmed behind his glasses, voice bitter. "Knew what you were getting into then? Because that's when this started, Hermione, from Halloween, when we saved you from the troll. Let's face it, if he hadn't known me, Ron wouldn't be... wouldn't be..." He trailed off, wiping fiercely at the tears that threatened to spill over once more. "I'm going to go see Dumbledore; he needs to know what happened today."

"Professor McGonagall already told him that we won, Harry. He knows." She placed a restraining hand on his forearm. "I know you feel responsible, but what happened wasn't your fault. We..."

"I know, 'Mione. I just need to talk to him, I need for him to tell me that it was worth it. I need him to tell me it's okay I'm still here." Hermione nodded slowly.

"I'll go to the Weasleys," She unwrapped her arms from Harry. "They understand; they lost him too." Harry clasped her hand in his, almost desperately.

"No, don't you leave me too!" His voice was reedy, and plaintive, a world of difference away from the strong, feral roar it had been only hours earlier, when he had rushed into battle. "Come with me, 'Mione. Stay with me." Hermione looked up, into her best friend's bottle green eyes, and smiled tightly.

"Always." She threaded her arm through his, and they supported each other as they picked their way through the throngs of people in the Great Hall. A few offered condolences to the pair, more still gave thanks to Harry. Hermione was worried about Harry, but she couldn't quite work out why. He shook the hands of any, and all who offered, and listened to everything that was said, with an air of sincerity. He thanked those who fought, and gave the families of the fallen sympathy. _Perhaps_, Hermione thought to herself,_it__'__s__that__he__seems__to__be__so__calm_.

However, before she had time to elaborate on this idea, Mrs. Weasley appeared in front of them.

"Oh, Harry dear! Hermione!" She threw her arms around her two surrogate children. "He would be glad… that you lived, that you saved the world. I w… wanted to let you know, I don't blame you, not for anything. You were true friends to him, and he loved you both. I'm glad that you found each other, and that you shared all that you did. You will always be welcome in our home, and you will always have a place in my heart, no matter what." Molly let out a hiccoughing sob, kissed each of their heads, before making her way back to the rest of her family.

Harry didn't look up at the rest of the Weasleys, it would be too much for him. They all looked so similar, with the fiery hair, and the freckles. And now they were one less, just as so many other families.

After Molly's rather loud outburst, people seemed to realise that they wished to be left to themselves, and so they managed to leave the hall much more quickly than they had thought possible.

As they traversed the many staircases, on their way to the seventh floor, both teens were silent. They nodded at any portraits they passed, Hermione and Harry sharing a grin at Sir Cadogan's silent salute.

Finally, they stood before the entrance to the Headmaster's office. The once fearsome Gargoyle was shattered; its 'life' given protecting Tamsin Applebee, a young Hufflepuff, from Walden Macnair's Avada Kedavra.

Hermione waved her wand, her non-verbal Wingardium Leviosa removing the remnants that stood in front of the entrance. Together, they stepped into the entryway, and onto the moving staircase. Harry wrapped his arms tightly around Hermione, more for his comfort than hers.

The heavy wooden door loomed in front of them, Harry ran a hand across the smooth, unblemished wood reverently, before pushing it open. The office looked very similar to when Dumbledore had occupied it. The most obvious difference being the difference in chairs.

Dumbledore's chair had been lilac coloured, and very squishy. One couldn't look at it without wishing to curl up in its cushioned depths. Snapes's chair, however was made of wood, so dark it was almost black. The seat and back were frugally padded green silk, with twisted silver snakes. The desk too, was now much darker.

Looking around, Harry realised that most of the changes in the room, were merely colour-based. Where Dumbledore had had a light and airy office, Snape's was dark and forbidding. Hermione gasped, as her eyes came to rest on the portrait of Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore.

In a manner typical to the former headmaster, he did not occupy a traditional chair, he sat, legs tucked under himself, on a rose-coloured beanbag. His robes were sunflower-yellow, and his pointy wizard's hat had been replaced with a fluorescent-green top hat. His beard was longer than ever, and seemed to take up more room than the whole of his body. But the most brilliant thing about his portrait, was his eyes, even painted, they held a mischievous twinkle.

"Harry, my dear boy! You did it! You saved us all! Well done!" His voice was just as Harry remembered, slightly hoarse, but very joyful. "Ah, but you mustn't be here talking to me! You should be out celebrating! Voldemort is gone! Gone for good, I tell you!"

"But at what cost?" Harry interrupted. "If you could see the way things are now… How will we ever put things right again?"

"Oh, Harry, that's not for you to worry about. Kingsley will see to the Ministry, now that Scrimgeour is gone, Hagrid will see to the creatures, the wolves, giants and the like, Severus will see to the school, and you three will be free to live your lives!"

"Scrimgeour is still Minister. The wolves, giants and the 'like' are being taken into custody, no matter whose side they fought on, thanks to Umbridge. Snape is dead on the floor of the shrieking shack, by Nagini. And, Ron… Ron was lost too." Harry's voice, which had began as a roar, faded to a mere whisper, but Dumbledore didn't seem to notice the boy's obvious pain.

"But Severus lives! If he were dead, his portrait would be here, with us!" Several other paintings nodded, and mumbled their agreement.

"We saw him die, Professor!" It took an effort for Hermione to keep her voice even. "Nagini all but ripped his throat out."

"He is not dead." Dumbledore repeated. "But that does not necessarily mean he is well. You must find him!" Hermione rolled her eyes at this, but Harry brightened.

"Come on, 'Mione. We can save him!" Harry tugged on her arm. "We don't need anymore death today." He shot her a pleading look, and Hermione lost her opposition.

"Fine, Harry. But let me stop by the infirmary for some potions. We can check for any other people, farther out. The Auror's haven't checked outside yet."

- HBP - HBP - HBP - HBP - HBP -

Hermione barely managed to hold herself together, as they crawled through the tunnel leading to the Shrieking Shack. Due to the low ceiling, they had to move at an agonizingly slow pace, for as the tunnel twisted upwards, and they could see the dim patch of light, that signalled the opening into the shack, the raspy breathing that Hermione had tried to convince herself was her imagination, got louder. And louder. And louder still.

Hermione shot out of the tunnel, and threw herself at her former teacher. He lay prone, and unmoving on the floor, but he breathed, but he lived.

"Harry, my bag! The red, round bottle, the sapphire blue vial, marked anti-venin, dittany - clear, round bottle, and the other clear one too, it's in a rectangular bottle, with a cork." She waved her wand in a complicated motion over his body, causing black smoke to rise. "Hmm, better be strong…a green pain potion, dark purple with a cork stopper, and dreamless sleep."

Harry searched through the satchel Hermione had brought with her, like most of her bags, it now utilized an undetectable extension charm, which made his task much more arduous.

Meanwhile, Hermione herself was paying no heed to Harry's efforts. All of her considerable brain power was focused on knitting together Snape's neck. It was a very complex task, as Nagini had ripped right through his windpipe, and his voice-box. After several, painstaking minutes, she lifted her wand and sat back on her haunches, reaching for the line of potions that Harry had fished from her bag.

She ordered them carefully, mumbling to herself as she gently poured them down Snape's throat.

"Anti-venin, sapphire, clean the blood. Sano Pulpa, heal the throat, clear, rectangular vial. Now…" Her hand froze over the vial, Harry started, nervously.

"It is the right one, isn't it?" He asked, fingers twitching.

"Yes, it is." She sighed. "It's just not going to be very pleasant. Wiggenweld never is, especially with the amount of pain he's in."

"Wiggenweld? But that'd mean he'd taken…? But he must have been so close to…? He had some with him? Who carries…?" He was interrupted by a rasping voice; Hermione had given Snape the purple Wiggenweld potion.

"Dumbledore suggested that the Draught of Living Death could be used to fake my own death, to protect the memories that you would need to survive." He paused for a moment, before continuing. "As I am, quite obviously, still alive, I assume you would like the memories, Potter?" Snape sat up, scrabbling around for his wand. Harry and Hermione sat, dumfounded for a beat, before Hermione chimed in.

"No sir, you already did." Harry and Snape now looked confused. "We won, sir. Voldemort is dead. Do you remember anything?"

"Of course I do!" He sounded affronted. "I was standing over here, like this…" At this point, Snape stumbled to his feet, before falling to the floor in a dead faint.

"What happened?" Harry rushed over to the Professor, who, once more, lay prone on the floor. Hermione waved him off, and moved her wand in wide circles over his body.

"Fuck." She swore. Harry's eyes widened. She pointed her wand at her bag. "Accio blood-replenishing potion!" She coaxed the potion down his throat, before repeating the circles with her wand, muttering something that, to Harry's ears, sounded suspiciously like 'stupid fucking spell'.

"Ennervate!" Hermione's wand was above Snape's head now. The dark onyx eyes slowly flickered open.

"What did you do?" He hissed menacingly, to which Hermione merely smiled.

"Glad to see you're feeling more like yourself, Professor. Here, I have a pain potion for you, then I'll give you some dreamless sleep, and take you to the field hospital we've set up in the Great Hall." Snape narrowed his eyes, but swallowed the potions that Hermione gave to him obediently.

As his eyelids drooped shut again, Hermione directed Harry to gently rub the dittany onto the Professor's neck, to try to lessen the scarring. She sat back on her haunches, and in her mind ran through all of the medi-witch procedures she had been working on with Poppy Pomfrey.

"Will he be okay?" Harry asked, startling her slightly.

"Yes." She smiled a little then. "Yes. He'll be fine." Her smile widened. "Come on, let's go give him to Poppy. She'll love having him back." Harry grimaced in response; he knew all too well how over-eager Madam Pomfrey could become with her 'regular' patients.

"Mobilcorpus!" Hermione didn't stop grinning all the way back to the castle.


	2. Chapter 1: The Potions Master

- Chapter 1 -

The Potions Master

"Ten points from Slytherin, Miss Daunt." The rich baritone was now slightly roughened, but its elegant peal still rang through his large dungeon classroom. "Subtlety is an art form, one which you have just desecrated. Tell me, however did you come to be placed in my house?"

The girl facing him reddened slightly, but she raised her chin defiantly, her eyes still locked with the obsidian orbs of her Potions Master.

"My apologies, Professor. However you did not answer my question, would you care for me to repeat it? Perhaps your hearing has diminished with age… There are charms to rectify that, you know sir?" Her tone was icy. She knew that her Professor had all but turned her down.

"Au contraire. My hearing is exemplary, no thanks to charm work." His sneer was short-lived, giving way to a leer. "Although, since you now seem to have taken on the brash personage of a Gryffindor, use your newfound courage." The girl's head cocked confusedly. "Tell me exactly what you are offering, Miss Daunt."

"I am offering, Professor, payment for the advancement of my Potions grade." Her eyes narrowed at him. "And surely you could see your way to using my first name, sir? I'm sure Yvette isn't too difficult to say, and I am of age…?"

"In that case, Miss Daunt, what sort of payment do you offer? I warn you, my prices have risen, as your actual grades have dropped." The girl gulped, nervously.

"I am willing to offer you anything you wish, sir. As long as you see your way to using my first name too." She smiled coyly. "Be it Galleons, ingredients, books, or perhaps you would prefer payment of a more personal nature, Professor?" Yvette leant forwards, across Snape's desk, revealing a Slytherin-green, silken brassiere. Snape eyed her cleavage appraisingly.

"Perhaps, Miss… Yvette, we could come to some sort of agreement…" He smiled then, a roguish grin out of character with his greasy git persona. In an instant, his face was transformed.

Yvette, like most of the man's many admirers, knew that he had had his teeth charmed straighter, and whiter but who could disagree when the charms had caused such a pleasant sight? His prominent cheekbones and strong jaw-line took on a much more aristocratic air, and his dark eyes almost glittered in the candle light. His hair was pulled back from his face, as was his wont of late. Overall, the grin was becoming enough to almost completely redeem his looks.

As he stood, and rounded the desk, Yvette marvelled at the changes the last few years had wrought in the man. Where he had once been skeletally thin and gaunt he had gained weight, and filled out. Of course, Severus Snape would never have the muscles of an Adonis, but his new, close-fitting shirts showed off the pectoral muscles one could only gain from years of lifting heavy cauldrons.

That was another thing that had changed him, his new clothes. Gone were the frock coats and sweeping robes, and in with tailored, drainpipe trousers, crisp white shirts with the sleeves rolled up past his elbows and open at the neck, showing the scars from Nagini with pride and revealing the clear skin of his left forearm. His frock coat had been exchanged for a black dragon skin waistcoat that matched his knee high boots so perfectly that a rumour had spread around Hogwarts that they were from a Hungarian Horntail that he had slain himself.

Yvette smiled warmly at her Professor, hands sliding seductively up her body, over the smooth planes of her stomach and curving across the swell of her breasts. She parted her lips slightly, in a pout, yet even as her hands reached to pull off her silver and green tie, the classroom door swung open.

"Forget about me, Snape?" Yvette looked up like a deer in a pair of headlights. The man that stood before her was Remus Lupin, yet another war hero affiliated with Hogwarts. He wore a pair of beige corduroy slacks with a burnt orange coloured blazer thrown over his shoulder, and a light blue shirt with a red bow tie. The trousers were tucked into a pair of dark tan ankle boots. The style of clothes didn't quite suit him, due to his stockier figure, and the colours clashed a little, but to Yvette's young eyes, he was stunning.

His hair was still golden brown, although the Daily Prophet maintained he was well into his forties. Fashionable stubble covered his own roguish grin, and, as Yvette stared dumbstruck at his scar covered face she understood from where her Potions Professor had taken the grin. And it looked much, much better on the original.

It was well known that the former Defence Professor was a werewolf, in fact, in the three years since the war Remus Lupin had been one of the main reasons that anti-werewolf legislation hadn't been passed. Unfortunately for his adoring fans, he wasn't often seen outside of the company of other war heroes, and seemed to avoid cameras.

"…Miss Daunt?" Snape's silky voice interrupted her musings. He was now leaning casually against the side of his desk, legs crossed gracefully at the ankles. "Day dreaming again? Ten points from Slytherin, and detention with me on Monday evening, eight o'clock."

Yvette opened her mouth to complain, but was stilled by the subtle quirk of his left eyebrow. Monday was only four days away, and she could still work on raising her grade then.

"Yes, Professor." She said, meekly. "I apologize for my earlier behaviour, sir, it was unacceptable, even under the circumstances."

"Your apology is… unnecessary, Miss Daunt. You may return to the common room, and to the common room _only._If you are found out of bed tonight, your detention will be tripled in length, and held with Mr. Filch, understood?" Yvette nodded, and slipped past the man in the doorway, who was now wearing one of Snape's signature smirks. _Jeez,_she thought to herself, _talk__about__sharing!_

Yvette looked back behind her, just in time to see Lupin shaking his head, and ruffling his hair. He opened his mouth to speak, but was stilled by a raised finger from the Potions Master, who twitched his wrist, and the door slammed shut before the young Slytherin's eyes.

"Bit young, that one, isn't she?" Lupin followed Snape through the hidden door in his office to the Professor's quarters. "Not bad looking, mind, but a bit young."

"She's of age." Snape settled in his favourite chair next to the fire, flicking his wand at a small cabinet, and sending a bottle of whiskey and two glasses speeding towards him. "And frankly, she needs the grades."

"Just Slytherin girls then?" Remus teased. "What, are we Gryffindors not good enough for you?"

"Remus, if you had an ulterior motive behind these visits you should have used your Gryffindorian lack of tact and spat it out by now!" Snape's nose twitched slightly, the only sign that he was joking.

Remus smirked in response, and accepted the whiskey glass Severus passed to him, taking a long sip as he did so. He moaned his appreciation, and threw his blazer at the sofa, before seating himself in a chair next to his friend's.

"Good whiskey, eh?" Snape bared his teeth. "Better than any you could get, wolf!"

"Too true. Muggle as well. Ah, you always did have good taste in booze." The wolf in question sighed. "So, any news?"

"News of what?" A shot of whiskey slid down the Potion Master's throat. "And I'll have you know this is more than just 'booze' you uncouth Gryffindor hooligan!"

"News of anything. I don't know." Lupin yawned loudly. "I do so love your chairs, you know. Where on earth did they come from? Did Merlin himself transfigure them?"

"Lupin, you speak to everyone that I speak to, and much more frequently at that. Why ask for things you already know?" Snape raised an eyebrow, daring the other man to mention his other question again.

"For conversation. You really should get out more, you know." Lupin grinned once more. "So, been up to much, Snape?"

"Teaching." Snape replied shortly. "And some more research."

"Invented anything interesting?"

"A potion that acts like the Killing Curse, I think." Snape bared his teeth in his less publicly-acceptable smile. "But I haven't yet tried all of the diagnostic spells on the rats, it could just be another poison that's difficult to detect."

"Imagine that." Lupin said dryly. "What would that be, nine poisons this year then?"

"This school year, eleven." Snape replied, magnanimously overlooking the sarcasm. "Close your mouth, wolf, or are you trying to catch flies?"

"It just surprises me. You like poisons, don't you?" Remus asked suddenly. "Like making them, I mean."

"Well of course I do. They're a challenge. The undetectable poisons were the most fun, but I think I'm over that challenge by now. I was thinking of making a sort of acid that could eat through wards, but I'm still wondering how to stop something that strong burning through the cauldron." Snape cast a glance at the clock on his wall. "Your hour is up, Lupin. You may leave." Remus rolled his eyes, but stood and drained his glass anyway.

"I come of my own volition, you know." He told the Potions Master quietly. "He only asked me to come once."

"And yet you still follow his orders? After three years? What a magnificent leader he must be." Snape stared darkly at his whiskey.

"You'd know if you still came to Order meetings." Lupin offered

"What would be the point in that, Lupin? The Dark Lord is dead, all you do is plan parties, and weddings. Who's the latest? Draco and Granger? Or has the Weasley girl managed to ensnare Potter at long last? Merlin knows why she still tries." He raised a hand wearily, and waved him off. "Just go."

With an imploring glance for Snape, Lupin put his glass tumbler down on the side table, and exited the dungeons post-haste. He turned, at the door and smiled winningly.

"Same time again next week then, Snape?" He winked cheerfully before jauntily striding off to visit the Headmistress. After forty minutes of pleasant chatter, punctuated with copious amounts of sweet tea, Lupin was heading back to the dungeons. He swept into the classroom, unintentionally mimicking the Potions Master's customary entrance.

"Snape!" He called as he passed into the office. "Snape? Let me in!" He pulled his wand. "_Homenum__Revelio!__" _The tip of his wand glowed red, and he sighed. "Please, please, don't have changed your wards." Remus prayed to himself. "I'll never get in if it's a new set!" His stance changed quickly, his feet were level with his shoulders, which were set in place as he slowly started to feel out the wards.

Fourteen minutes later, with slightly singed hair (due to an ill-timed sneeze) Remus once more entered Severus' chambers.

"There it is!" He ambled over to the sofa that he had tossed his jacket onto, and picked it up. "I'm never wearing you again, damn what Hermione says about fashion!" He muttered to himself, distractedly knocking against one of the many side tables that cluttered Snape's rooms. The table fell over at the bump, relieving itself of Snape's possessions in the first place.

Lupin knelt down on the floor, and began the arduous task of picking everything up, and repairing the table. There were several scraps of parchment, with Floo addresses on, that he ignored, and an edition of _Playwizard_which he was sorely tempted to borrow, but soon the only thing left on the floor was a book.

"Oh, I hope you're not damaged," he muttered. "He'll bloody kill me if I hurt one of his precious books!" As he flicked through the pages, searching for tears, or, less easily rectified, bent corners, Lupin noticed that the whole book was covered in the Potions Master's spiky script. He leant in closely, and began to read the page he was on.

_ … add seven doxy wings, stirring in a rigorous zigzag pattern for seven minutes. This process leads to prolonged pain comparable to the Cruciatus Curse, but for a much longer lasting period, and results in death when the drinker is exposed to anything containing doxy essence, found in most common potion draughts so should kill within a week. Teamed with coughing spell…_

Lupin skipped a few pages ahead, and caught sight of what looked like a dream journal.

_ … the woman looks up at me, she is screaming for me to stop, but I step forwards again, and bring the knife across her cheek this time. The blood spills out of the wound, I am entranced. I lean over her, and lap up the blood. She starts to struggle, so I petrify and bind her with ropes…_

A few pages further revealed more of the same.

_… __found__myself__pondering__a__conundrum;__what__if__one__were__to__cast__the__Imperius__Curse,__and__direct__the__subject__to__feel__twice__as__much__pain,__and__then__cast__the__Cruciatus__Curse?__Or__to__direct__the__subject__to__feel__all__touches__as__painful,__then__send__them__home__to__a__waiting__spouse?__Oh__the__fun__that__could__be__had__…_

"Merlin, no! Severus, gods, what have you done to yourself?"

"Taken a bath, perhaps Lupin?" Remus jumped in shock, already crouched with wand out and curse on lips before his eyes registered hairy legs, a towel, and a bare chest. He gulped as he looked up at the face that he knew he would see.

"Severus! I er… left my jacket." Remus could feel his face reddening as he stood up, and re-sheathed his wand.

"The blazer which is now in your hand, I presume?"

"It's not what it…"

"My book." Remus reluctantly parted with the tome. "Now leave. And _do__not_ return. You shan't get past my wards again." The icy chill in Severus' voice made Remus' hackles rise, and he had to shake off a strange urge to growl at his old enemy.

"Sev…" Remus began, hands held palm up in a sign of peace.

"Do not even think that you have any right at all to use my given name without permission! You will refer to me as either Professor Snape, Master Snape, or Sir Snape, in agreement with my titles! I hereby revoke your right to use my name!" Snape had drawn himself up to his full height, and as he spat his last words a spate of dark purple light shot out from Remus, and into the wild Professor. "Leave now, wolf, before I do something you would regret."

Remus stared down at his chest, where the purple spire had emanated from in disbelief, mouth hanging open.

"You… but… what… thought… I… Sev-ungh!" Lupin clapped a hand to his throat, and his shoulder sagged for a moment, but then he too drew himself to his full height. "Fuck. You. Snape." He hissed, before stalking out of the rooms.

- HBP - HBP - HBP - HBP - HBP -

Approximately thirteen minutes later, the saviour of the wizarding world was rudely awakened by a high pitched siren. He pulled his wand arm and wand from underneath his pillow and waved it, rolling onto his back, blearily opening his eyes and raising his head to look at the name his spell had revealed.

Ten letters had appeared in the air, and they glowed red and rearranged themselves even as Harry watched. _Remus__Lupin,_they spelt. Harry waved his wand in a figure eight, groaned, and collapsed back onto the pillows, eyes already closing.

Three minutes after that Harry's sleep was again disturbed, this time by a banging on his door. As he untangled himself from the bedcovers he cursed himself for letting Hermione place an amplification charm on the porch.

"Harry!" Came the fevered cry from outside. "Harry, goddamn it this is an emergency! CODE RED!" Harry's head twitched to one side, and his brow creased before he ran full pelt to the front door. Once more, thanks to Hermione's protective spells, the door could only be opened by his touch, if he actually wanted someone to come in. He pressed his finger to it, before diving to the side as Remus tumbled in.

"Oh gods, Harry, it's Sev-ungh… it's Snape!" Remus panted, face red from exertion. "It's bad, I told you it was bad, but it's getting worse." He turned to face the boy-who-lived, and had to grin at the sight.

Harry was sprawled out on the stone floor, wand arm pointing up with his hair sticking in eighteen different directions. His emerald green eyes were flickering around in angst that seemed to centre on Remus himself, and the open door behind him. Remus turned to close the door, and noticed Harry visibly relax.

"Why are you still grinning at me?" Harry asked confusedly. Remus' smile grew to Cheshire-cat size.

"Look down." Remus struggled to keep a straight face as he watched his best friend's son slowly tilt his head downwards.

"For Merlin's sake Harry, put some damn clothes on!" An irate woman's voice snapped from the balcony above them. "And next time, turn those bloody alarms off!"

"Oops," Harry mumbled as he picked himself from the floor. "Sorry 'Mione." He dived at the floor to his left as a puce coloured hex narrowly missed him.

"I get you had a bad night, Harry, but that does not mean you can use that _horrible_name!" Lupin watched, amused as the man who hadn't even faltered under Voldemort's glare cowered before the woman in front of him. "Want to do me a favour now?" Her voice was like honey as she skipped down the stairs, a complete parody of her face. "Turn the fucking wards _off._ Don't just silence them for you. Turn. Them. Off."

"Shit." Harry mumbled, waving his wand in a reverse figure eight this time. "Sorry, Hermione. I didn't think."

"Didn't think what, Harry? Didn't think that we'd linked our wards? Didn't think that when someone tried to apparate here I'd hear it too? Didn't think to turn the wards off when you knew it was safe? Didn't think that your best friend would apparate, while disillusioned and silenced into your laundry closet?" Hermione had reached the bottom of the staircase now, and she soon stood over her friend as he once more lay on the floor.

"Didn't think to clear the closet… Or put clothes on, apparently. See, you're not the only thing I didn't think about!" Harry teased, a hopeful smile on his face. "Come on, Hermione. You know I'm helpless… Also, why are you wearing Draco's shirt?"

Lupin looked over at her with an eyebrow raised, taking in exactly how she looked. She wore a pair of old muggle jeans that were so long they trailed on the floor, and a fine, overly large green shirt, that Remus realised was the same colour as Harry's eyes. Her hair was, as always, an unmanageable wreck, bushy as ever but with twigs and clots of dirt in it. Her face was perfectly made up, and Lupin thought she'd look very pretty, apart from -

"You've got dirt on your nose, by the way, did you know?" Harry mimicked a high pitched voice, and then sniffed a little. Hermione seemed stuck between laughing and crying.

"As a matter of fact, I didn't." Hermione said, her voice thick. "Now, you go and get dressed while I entertain Remus in the study." She turned to the elder man, who she had ignored so far. "Clean me off would you, seeing as it was you who interrupted my… erm… gardening."

Remus obliged, with a quick _Tergeo._Harry headed back upstairs quickly under threat of another Hermione-fired hex, whilst she took Remus to the downstairs study.

Remus had only just seated himself in a beautiful leather backed wing chair before Harry ran into the room, this time with clothes on. Half on. He wore a pair of loose charcoal grey trousers, and was struggling to button an icy blue coloured shirt.

"Really, Harry!" Hermione drawled sardonically. "Couldn't you at least put your clothes _on_before you come downstairs?"

"Not my fault," Harry huffed. "It's that shirt Draco got me for Christmas, you know, with all of the buttons? The one I got him didn't… Hey!" Harry's mouth opened in confusion as he pointed at the shirt that Hermione wore.

"Yes. This is the shirt you got Draco. I was in bit of a rush to get dressed, for obvious reasons." Hermione said matter of factly. "Drink, Remus?" She asked nonchalantly.

"But he was wearing that last night…" Harry began, before his face twisted uncomfortably. "Hermione, you really need to stop throwing it in my face that you two are… doing… well… you-know-what. Together." Hermione shrugged absently.

"I'm fine thanks, Hermione." Remus interjected. "And am I correct in guessing that your shirt, Harry, is the colour of Draco's eyes?" At Harry's nod he continued in an incredulous tone of voice. "Why did you buy each other shirts in each other's eye colours?"

"Umm…" Harry scratched his head and looked away. "It's a long story. What were you saying about Snape when you came in?" Remus shook his head knowingly, but began to talk, leaning forwards out of his chair, and pitching his voice low.

"You know I've been going to see him every week?" He started. "Well, I had to break into his rooms today, to get my jacket back, and I found this book that he's been writing in. And the things in it, there were torture spells, and creepy dreams and pain potions! There's something wrong with him. It's not right, what he's written, it's horrible. But then he caught me, and he completely overreacted. He forbade me to speak his name, and now I can't even say it, look Sev-ungh!" Harry raised a sceptical eyebrow.

"So, you broke into his rooms while he was gone, and found a book with creepy dreams and pain potions written in?"

"And torture spells! It's like the sort of stuff that the Death Eaters did, but worse!"

"Are you sure that that wasn't from his Death Eater days?" Hermione asked speculatively. "Maybe from before he changed sides, or something he had to show to Voldemort?"

"No! I don't know! But the poisons he makes! You know about the poisons! He's made hundreds of poisons!" Remus was on his feet now, arms spread wide in a show of his anguish. His voice had risen so much that he was nearly shouting.

"He's always made poisons, Remus." Harry came to stand next to him, and placed a calming hand on his shoulder. "I want you to sit down, and listen to me. Okay?" When Remus was once more seated, Harry continued to talk. "Snape isn't an easy person to get along with, I get that, and I know it must have been hard for you going to talk with him so often. But he is a good man, at heart.

"Just look at the amount of times he saved me, when we all know I'm not exactly his favourite person, am I? Even in the Final Battle, what he thought was his dying breath he spent giving me memories that would save me, save everyone. He spent the better part of twenty years spying for us, he killed his only friend, for us. He lost the only woman he has ever loved. But he's still there, if anybody needs a potion, he'll brew it. He damn _created_that potion to save Fleur's baby, because he's a good person.

"And sure, he was mad at you, I get that at least. I mean, you broke into his _home_and you went through his things. He's a very private man, he always has been. I'm not berating you, but surely even you could see that he would have been upset that you broke into the one place he feels safe? I've seen the amount of wards he uses, and they're all strong. I don't think he feels safe there, and you haven't helped that Remus.

"Maybe it would be a good idea for you to leave him alone for a while, to let him calm down. I'll go next week instead of you, and we'll see then if he's okay, but I honestly don't think that there's anything to worry about. I mean, come on, it's only Snape."


	3. Chapter 2: The Malfoy Return

- Chapter 2 -

The Malfoy Return

Hermione walked into the kitchen of her small London flat and found her boyfriend sitting at her dining table, face down on a copy of the Daily Prophet.

"Draco?" Hermione queried softly. "Draco, are you okay?" When he didn't answer for a moment, Hermione feared for his well being and brought out her wand to cast a diagnostic spell when he finally spoke.

"No, I'm not bloody okay. He's getting out. Today." His words were muffled, and his voice thick but Hermione managed to get the gist of it.

"Who's getting out, darling?" She asked, gently perching on a chair next to his. "What's happened?"

"Father has bribed his way out from Azkaban. Mother owled me the details, the letter's over there somewhere." His right arm waved back at a corner of the kitchen where Hermione could spy some crumpled parchment. "According to the Prophet, he's out on good behaviour. Like he knows what good behaviour is!"

Hermione rubbed Draco's back in large, soothing circles and kissed the back of his neck.

"It'll be okay, Draco. Don't worry. I won't let anything bad happen. You won't let anything bad happen. The whole _order_won't let anything bad happen. You're one of _us,_we protect our own." Hermione promised sincerely. Draco raised his head, and pressed it in the crook of Hermione's neck, arms wrapped tightly around her torso.

After a few minutes he pulled back and kissed her forehead softly, his face and countenance composed once more.

"Thanks for stopping me going crazy," he joked. "Again. But seriously, how could this day get any worse?" Hermione smiled at that, and traced a finger teasingly down the side of his face that had been pressed to the newspaper.

"The newspaper ink that's transferred all over your lovely face?" She told him with a grin.

"The same newspaper ink that's transferred to your neck?" He replied, his whole hand coming down on the affected area. "But I have a solution to make this day a whole lot better, want to hear it?"

"Coffee?" Hermione asked hopefully.

"Your shower… We can help each other wash off all of the ink." Draco winked seductively, then pulled a giggling Hermione in the direction of the bathroom.

- HBP - HBP - HBP - HBP - HBP -

"Go away!" The Potions Master snarled. "And don't come back!" He sank back into the deceptively comfortable chair that sat behind his desk, and drew a long, deep breath. His eyes drifted closed, and he could feel his headache just beginning to recede when…

BOOM!

When the haze of dust from the splintered door cleared Snape was disillusioned underneath his desk, and his 'visitor' was nowhere to be seen. Snape's eyes flickered about, and upon seeing no movement he pointed his wand at his throat, and spoke. Thanks to the charm he had just cast, his voice would appear to come from five feet to his left, underneath a student desk.

"Lucius, I know it's you. Nobody else is that flamboyant." Snape drawled, his eyes flickering around and carefully watching the room for movement. Sure enough a flash of light from a wand revealed the elder Malfoy to be just to the right of the door. Snape sent a non-verbal _Petrificus__Totalus_at the spot, and was rewarded with the sound of a satisfying thump.

_Too__easy__old__friend,_ Severus thought to himself. _Way__too__easy._His eyes flickered around the room once more, and he wordlessly cast _Wingardium__Leviosa_at a jar full of crushed beetle juice, flinging it over the area that the thump had come from. Severus bared his teeth in a smile as the beetles revealed the hazy outline of a man, he stood and strode over to the sticky mess.

"_Expelliarmus._ _Finite._" A wave of his wand revealed the petulant scowl of a wandless Lucius Malfoy. "Good day, Lucius. I must say you're not looking too well, are you? Is that beetle juice in your hair? I must say it does turn it a lovely shade of purple." Beneath him Lucius' eyes rolled.

"Enough with the dramatics, Severus. You win. Now could you please _Scourgify_me, or give me my wand back?"

"_Scourgify.__"_ Snape intoned with a sneering smile as Lucius returned to his usual impeccable state. "I must say, your duelling skills have worsened some, haven't they? Your daughter-in-law could cast that hex in her first year here, and you can't even repel it? I do wonder how you ever survived the war."

"Why, good looks and charm, of course. However else?" Lucius snorted inelegantly as he stood up. "I am an old man now, I fear. Azkaban has aged me. Now what's this you say about Draco having a wife? I wasn't informed of this development!"

"Oh, I don't know if they're married." Snape gestured for Lucius to follow him into his private rooms. "Yet. Last I heard they were _very_close. Maybe they're engaged? I don't suppose I'd be the person to ask. I'm sure that asking one of the remaining Weasleys would be much more reliable." Lucius near collapsed onto the sofa.

"A _Weasley_? My son, and a _Weasley_?" Lucius gaped. "How could he do any worse?"

"A Muggle-born witch, perhaps, Lucius?" Severus taunted mercilessly. Lucius wrinkled his nose in distaste.

"Don't be vulgar, Severus, Draco would never sully himself with someone of that standing. You said he was with the Weasley girl, in any case."

"He's not with the Weasley girl." Severus said, nonchalantly waving his wand causing two glasses of whiskey to appear in front of him.

"Then who is he with?" Lucius eyed the two floating glasses speculatively.

"A Muggle-born witch. You probably want to take note of the phrasing of that, by the way. She has influential friends that don't like you." Severus smiled his roguish grin. "Imagine that, annoying your daughter-in-law could land you in Azkaban again… How ironic?"

"Severus!" Lucius chided, before making a grab for one of the glasses of alcohol. "Just tell me you old coot!"

"My apologies Lucius, but you are the elder of us here." A twitch of Severus's wand and the whiskey moved out of Lucius' reach.

"Tell me her name!" Lucius pleaded, eyes still trained on the booze.

"Hermione Granger."

"Fuck." Lucius' head dropped, and his hands came up to cover his face. A moment later, the glass of whiskey bumped at his head. Lucius took hold of it and looked up at his mildly apologetic friend.

"You look like you need it," Severus explained. "If you don't react accordingly it takes all of the fun out of things." He complained, a gleam in his eyes. "Think of the positives…"

"Popular." Lucius mumbled. "Influential. Spotless reputation. And to be related to her…"

"Good man. Now I can start on the negatives." Severus smirked, taking a sip of his own whiskey before continuing. "Hates you. That hair. Hates you. Know it all. Hates you… and oh! Lucius! Imagine the grandchildren!" Severus chuckled as Lucius groaned.

"You, Severus Snape, are an evil, evil man." He moaned, one pale hand reaching up towards his forehead.

"I'm terribly flattered. By the way, why exactly are you here? The last I heard you were having real fun in Azkaban." Snape said conversationally.

"New Minister likes money." Lucius quirked an eyebrow and a smirk appeared.

"Ah. When did you get out?" Severus smirked then, as Lucius's smirk was replaced with a wince.

"About an hour ago." He confessed.

"And you come see me first? I'm flattered."

"Don't be. You're just the least judgemental."

"And?"

"And what?"

"Lucius." Severus said darkly.

"Potter likes you."

"I assure you, it is not mutual. Whatever you want can be better achieved through your son." Severus leaned back, taking a long sip of his whiskey. "If he'll speak to you, that is. I fear the Granger chit may have _converted_him." Lucius's nose wrinkled.

"What must be done, must be done." He sighed resignedly. "I'll take my leave of you now, I should probably visit Narcissa." Severus's eyes bulged out slightly as he rose to shake the blond man's hand.

"You haven't seen your _wife_yet?" He asked incredulously. "Lucius Malfoy, you are a dead man walking."

- HBP - HBP - HBP - HBP - HBP -

Draco and Hermione stayed in the shower long after the hot water had ran out, thanks to judicious usage of a warming charm. After the shower, they progressed to the bedroom, where they stayed for at least another hour. As they lay next to each other, Hermione's sleepily smiling face pressed against the milk-white skin of Draco's chest, he sighed.

"I have to go," He groaned. "I'm sor…"

"Don't be." Hermione kissed his neck gently, effectively cutting off Draco's speech. "He's your father, whether he's my favourite person or not. You need to go." She lifted her head, and let it fall onto the pillow next to her, nudging at his hip with her bent knee. "Go, babe."

Draco mumbled a few nonsensical words, and rolled over. Unfortunately for him, this roll coincided with a sharp kick from his lover, hence Draco tumbled onto the bedroom floor.

"Ow." Hermione scrambled to the edge of the bed and peered over at her prone boyfriend. He turned his head to face her, and propped his head up off the carpet. "Witch, I hate you." Draco teased, getting to his feet and stretching out. Hermione lay back in the bed and watched him, a teasing twinkle in her eye.

"Seen something you like?" He asked, only half serious, but Hermione's answer was all honesty.

"Oh yes. Very much. And if you don't go find your clothes soon you won't be leaving." Draco rolled his eyes as he leaned over her to peck her cheek, then disappeared off into the next room. When he returned a few minutes later, Hermione pouted. "Have to admit, I was hoping you'd stay naked," she teased.

"Silly girl," Draco bent to kiss her gently on the forehead. "Don't you know I'll be back in an hour or two? You can take them all off again then. I promise." Hermione lazily waved him off, a sleepy smile crossing her face.

"Come back soon," she mumbled. Draco nodded, smiling as Hermione's eyes fell closed, and her face buried in towards the pillow where his head had been just minutes before.

"Business before pleasure," Draco reminded himself, sorely tempted to scrap 'business' and return to bed with 'pleasure'. "Business before pleasure." He turned sharply and exited the flat he and Hermione shared, only apparating away once he was safe in a dark alley a few blocks away.

Draco checked his watch as he landed at the gates of Malfoy Manor, he was later than he had hoped to be, but 'pleasure' had been all too enticing. He smiled as he strode up the long driveway and a flick of his wand had the imposing doors opening for him.

"Pithy?" He called softly, and a house elf appeared in front of him bowing low.

"The young Master is returned!" It squeaked. "That is both of the Masters returned home in one day, the Mistress will be pleased!"

"Lucius is here already?" Draco asked sharply, hushing the elf after a mere nod. "Pithy, could you tell me where my mother and father are, please?"

"They is in the sitting room, Master Draco." The elf replied happily. "Should you like me to announce you, young Sir?"

"No, Pithy." Draco said hastily. "I wish for you not to tell anyone that I am here, unless they mention me being here first, okay? Not to anyone, not to Master, nor to Mistress. Understood?" Draco winced at the formal tone he had taken with Pithy and was glad that Hermione was not with him. Although she had mercifully ended her S.P.E.W. campaign she still believed that house elves deserved to be treated with respect.

"Yes, Master Draco. Pithy will be pleased to do your services, Sir!" Draco groaned, but headed towards the sitting room anyway. Surely it couldn't hurt for him to just listen to what his parents were saying to each other.

With a smirk and a few swishes of his wand Draco was disillusioned and silenced. He stood just inside the open door of the sitting room, and observed his parents warily. His mother was sitting peaceably in a chintz armchair sipping tea, whilst his father was sitting on the love-seat looking slightly nervous.

Draco attributed most of his father's nerves to his mother's choice of seat; she had deliberately chosen to sit away from him. Draco had to smother a snigger, it would serve his father right to be served with divorce papers. As he watched them though, he became aware that his father's nerves surprisingly weren't centred on his wife. They were centred on his arm. He paid no attention to his father's eccentricities though. The man had just been released from Azkaban, after all, it was sure to have had some effect upon him.

He did, however, pay attention to his mother's shocked gasp. The teacup dropped to the floor, shattering instantly. Lucius had absentmindedly rolled up the sleeve of his robes to scratch at his arm, but he didn't scratch now. Now he stared.

Draco could remember what his father's left forearm had looked like in the war, it had had a fully active Dark Mark on it. A white skull with a green snake coming out of the mouth. After the war it had faded to white outlines of a scar. Now it was neither. It was coloured, but the shapes had changed. There was no longer a skull, and the snake seemed to have multiplied. In fact, it looked like there were hundreds of the tiny snakes, each seemingly eating the tail of the snake in front of it. They formed a manacle around his wrist.

Narcissa drew the sleeve of her robe up too, and put her arm next to that of Lucius's.

"Mine hasn't changed. What have you done, Lucius Malfoy?" She asked, voice quavering. "Where have you been?" Lucius too was staring dumbfoundedly at his arm.

"I… I… nowhere…" He stammered, blinking several times. "I… impossible… No…" Lucius trailed off, incoherently blinking down at his arm. When he looked back up Narcissa was standing directly in front of him, her wand pointed at his face.

"Where, Lucius?" She asked harshly. "Where have you been? TELL ME!" Lucius looked confusedly up at his wife, before bursting into uncontrollable laughter. "THIS IS NOT A JOKE!" Narcissa screeched, effectively shutting Lucius up. "If your mark is changed, _he_is back. Now tell me, WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?"

"I went to see Severus." Lucius cowered back into the sofa, still fearful of Narcissa. He needn't have worried, for she stepped back suddenly, lowering her wand as she did so.

"Severus. So he was loyal to us after all." She said slowly, all of the anger gone from her voice. Unseen, Draco's eyes widened, and he backed away slowly, running at full pelt once he got out of the Manor. He ran until he reached the gates, impatiently spelling them open and apparating as soon as he left the oppressive wards.

He came crashing into Hermione's apartment, collapsing to his knees as soon as he saw Hermione enter the hallway wand first. His hands came up to cover his face as he tried to comprehend what his parents had just been saying, but as he shivered on the floor he found there were only two words he could say.

"He's back," Draco's voice came out warbled and barely more than a whisper. "Merlin help us all, Hermione, _he__'__s__back_." Hermione dropped her wand and hurried over to Draco's side, wrapping her arms tightly around him once more.

"I know it's hard to see him again, Draco, but he's your father, you have to do this." She rubbed circles on his back once more, and pressed her face to his neck.

"No," Draco lifted his head, his frantic eyes reaching her amber orbs of concern. "Not Lucius. _Voldemort_." Hermione let go suddenly, and scrambled back for her wand.

"What happened Draco?" She ducked to help Draco stand as he struggled to regain his footing. "What did you hear?" Draco shook his head, blinking.

"Voldemort." He whispered. "Voldemort is back." Hermione's eyes widened to the size of saucer plates, and her mouth actually dropped open for a second or two. However once she'd let herself have her little panic, her jaw set in grim determination, and her fingers once more clutched at her wand.

"Tell me," she commanded, eyes flashing with steel. "_How_is he back?"

"Snape," Draco unconsciously did an impression of his father's stuttering. "I… I don't know how, but it's something to do with Snape."

"Gods, Lupin!" Hermione swore fluently in French for a full minute without drawing breath.

"Wow," Draco struggled to identify even half of the words. "I didn't know you-"

"Fleur Delacour. Pregnant Frenchwoman, in the middle of a war. She swore a lot." Hermione said absently, and then suddenly clutched at Draco's hand. "We have to go see Harry, you can tell me everything there." Draco nodded, his face solemn once more.

"You apparate us, you can take me straight through the wards into the foyer." Hermione nodded, and then span on the spot, taking Draco with her.

They landed with a crack in the main entrance of Harry's home, Hermione leant in to Draco, having always felt ill at side-along apparition, whether she was taking someone, or being taken herself.

"Harry?" Draco's deep voice rang out loudly, Hermione nuzzled her face closer into his neck, feeling the vibrations as he spoke and counting the beating of his heart.

"Kitchen!" Came the reply a moment later. As Hermione and Draco walked through the house, they were struck with the smell of burger. When they were at the door to the kitchen, Hermione paused for a second.

"Nargles and Wrackspurts are creatures strange," she said loudly, her voice clear and steady, hand on her wand. Harry's voice floated back to them, tinged in confusion.

"But what of Heliotropes, and Dabberblimps? Are they not strange too?" Hermione sighed in relief, then entered the kitchen, only to spin back into Draco's arms as he entered.

"Harry, for Merlin's sake, can't you ever wear clothes?" She shrieked shrilly. "This is the second time this week I've seen you naked. Funny that it's also the second time this week I've seen you too, isn't it?" Draco snorted in amusement, but was tempered by the rather severe look on Harry's face.

"You used the code," he said nervously. "Those were for the war days… Hermione?" His voice shook almost painfully on her name, his emerald green eyes shining. "Please, tell me it's not… tell me it can't be!" His voice had risen to a fever pitch by now, his eyes still on the back of Hermione's head. She turned to face him, a single tear rolling down her face.

"Oh, Harry," she whispered in a hoarse voice, before breaking into loud sobs. Harry soon followed her, arms reaching out blindly for his eldest friend, who enveloped him with one arm, the other securely anchored around Draco. The trio stood for a few moments, their tears melding into each others, until Hermione untangled herself, still sniffling.

"I'll go get you some clothes, Harry." She said thickly, quickly disappearing out of the kitchen. Harry and Draco stayed wrapped in each other for a few moments longer, before both looking at each other with wide eyes and hurriedly separating.

"Lets never mention this." Harry said awkwardly.

"Done deal." Draco followed quickly. Harry retreated behind the kitchen counter and started to make sandwiches. Draco 'helped' by pointing out imperfections in the sandwich meat, the bread, and Harry's abilities at wielding a knife. "Honestly Harry, if you're going to threaten me, a butter knife just doesn't cut it."

"So nice to know I can leave you two alone." Hermione commented dryly, throwing a pile of clothes at Harry. "I do wonder what happens when you two go drinking, you know?"

"You left me with a crying, naked, Gryffindor, for Merlin's sake!" Draco retorted hotly. "And this is fairly normal. I haven't killed him yet, have I?"

"You kill me?" Harry asked, his raised eyebrow hidden as he pulled a jumper over his face. "And I love the yet. Merlin, Hermione, did you get the most restricting clothes I own?" He asked.

"I got the ones that seemed like they'd cover you up the most. I've seen way more of you than I'd ever like to see, thanks Harry." Draco mumbled something that sounded like agreement, as he collapsed onto the floor.

"You said there was something wrong." Harry stepped forwards, squatting down in front of Draco. "What's up?"

- HBP - HBP - HBP - HBP - HBP -

Approximately fourteen minutes later, Draco once more had an armful of bawling Harry, although this time both parties were clothed, and Draco was teary eyed too. Hermione was sitting on the floor with them in silence, tears running down her face unchecked as she leant on a combined wall of Draco and Harry for strength.

"It's not possible," Hermione snapped for the third time. "He can't have come back. We destroyed all of the Horcruxes."

"But he's the only one who could have changed the Dark Mark. It was keyed to him, not to his wand, or to his body, to his _magic._" Draco argued back.

"But Harry killed him!" She all but screeched. "I saw him die. We burnt his body and danced on his ashes! He's dead."

"He can't be, Hermione, he just can't be."

"Couldn't somebody else be using his magic?" Hermione and Draco froze at the innocent question from the other third of their trio. "I mean, could they steal it?"

"Fuck." Hermione said at the same time as Draco vehemently disagreed. They looked at each other in relative confusion, until she explained. "Horcruxes. Snape has to be a Horcrux. When Harry was… had… in him, he removed a Dark Mark. We never told anyone, only the two of us ever knew."

"Whose?" Draco asked with a sinking morbid curiosity. "My father would have known if any had gone missing, surely?" A lone tear washed down Hermione's face, and she let it trace from her eye down the length of her face before she answered.

"Ron," she whispered, voice cracking. "When he left us, when we were searching for Horcruxes. That's how he… That's how Voldemort knew so much. But Harry took the mark away from him. We stopped him. He died for us, in the end." Draco wrapped his arms around her again, and crushed her to his chest.

"We have to kill Snape." Draco said after a few minutes of silence. "We can't risk that he's being controlled."

"No!" Harry moaned. "No! We can't kill him! How many times did he save all of us? There has to be a better way!" Hermione buried her face into Draco's neck for a second, and then pulled away.

"We will have to go the Aurors at least, Harry." She said finally. "They need to know. This comes too close after what Remus said last week."

"Remus?" Draco asked confusedly. "What does the wolf have to do with any of this?"

"I'll tell you at home," Hermione said tactfully. "Right now, we need to go see Kingsley. Or at least I do. Neither of you are in any state to speak about this yet. I want you both to ward this entire house, top to bottom, with the strongest things you can think of, and then I want you to go back to our house and ward there. Send messages to the Order and tell them to ward up again, and be careful. You'll need to replace the Fidelius charm on Grimmauld Place, we'll host Order meetings there when we've worked out who we can trust. I'll be back in two hours, no more. Harry, teach Draco Ron's part of the code words while you ward." At that she stood, took a single deep breath and apparated away.

"Two hours?" Harry said incredulously. "The woman is mental if she thinks we can do all that in two hours!"

"Just think of what she'll do to us if we don't." Draco advised. "And bloody _run_everywhere."


	4. Chapter 3: The Aurors

- Chapter 3 -

The Fear

"I am afraid that there is nothing I can do for you, Miss. All Auror business is confidential and if any of my superiors were available, they would tell you the same." The sallow-faced man who was the public face of the Auror department sniffed as he turned away, obviously sure that the conversation was over. He did not, however, account for the persistence of the people he was dealing with.

"Where exactly are _all_of your superiors?" The blonde man asked, narrowing his eyes in suspicion. "Surely there should be at least one _competent_Auror to deal with any issues."

"They are in a department wide meeting, sir." He answered after a moments thought. "A meeting that I cannot disturb."

"Well, you just listen to me!" The dark haired man interrupted. "Do you know who I-" He was cut off by the woman with them taking out her wand.

"Put your wand away this instant!" The sallow-faced man squeaked at her. She threw him a contemptuous glance, before speaking.

"_Expecto__patronum_!" She enunciated, sending a silver eagle gracefully gliding behind the receptionist, into the main Auror Department.

"You can't just do that!" The sallow man almost screeched, getting to his feet, wand in hand. "I will have you arrested for that! It is _not__allowed_! You! You! You-"

"That will be enough, thank you, Mr. Robards." A deep voice resounded from behind the man.

"But-" The man raised a hand. "She-"

"_Enough._ Do you not recognise our war heroes? I am to be notified if any war veteran should appear at this office, am I not?" A dark tone entered the man's voice as he frowned at his subordinate.

"Yes, Auror Shacklebolt, but I didn't-"

"I would think that there have been enough pictures published of them that they are recognisable, Gawain." He said, this time more softly. The blond man looked appraisingly at his two comrades.

"Well, the pictures never do _you_justice dear." He told the woman. "They always seem to catch you at the worst moments."

"It's called Rita Skeeter," she ground out. "Blasted woman still has some influence."

"And you have had your hair cut, I think." The man spoke over her, looking at his dark haired companion. "Getting rid of those god-awful glasses is what did the trick though; I can't believe you kept them for so long." The dark haired man rolled his green eyes and sighed, turning to the latest addition to the room instead.

"Kingsley," he reached his hand out to shake that of the elder Auror's. "I hope we're not interrupting anything, Hermione did say she'd written ahead…?"

"Yes, yes she did." Kingsley smiled and shook the proffered hand. "Our meeting unfortunately ran over, however. If you would like to follow me to my office…"

"But they haven't signed in!" Robards protested.

"I'm sure you can sign them in, Gawain." Shacklebolt sighed. "If they will just give their names…" He looked expectantly at the three who managed to simultaneously snicker.

"Draco Malfoy," the blond said imperiously.

"Hermione Granger," the woman said with a tight smile.

"Harry Potter," said the dark haired man with an enigmatic grin. "You know, I might come back here," he told his companions as they walked into the department. "That's the first time I've had to give my name in _ages_!"

Kingsley rolled his eyes as he led the trio into his spacious office and sank in the large chair behind the ornate desk, watching the two boys argue over the two remaining seats. He shared a wry grin with Hermione, who placed a finger over her lips before silently conjuring a wingback chair with heavy padding. She levitated it to just behind Draco, in line with the other chairs, and seated herself.

"Tea, Hermione?" Kingsley asked conversationally.

"No thank you, I was at the Burrow this morning." Kingsley nodded sympathetically, understanding her meaning.

"Yes, the last time I visited I'm sure I drank four cups in an hour!" He raised an eyebrow at Hermione conspiratorially. "But of course, you already knew that…" As expected, Hermione's indignant response captured the attention of her male compatriots.

"I _told_you that you didn't _have_to drink my tea too!" She squealed, collapsing in laughter at the faces of Harry and Draco.

"The woman already _has_a chair." Draco announced into the silence that followed.

"Yeah, I guess she does." Harry concurred. "I guess you _can_sit there after all, Draco."

"And I suppose _you_ cansit down too." Draco conceded, sidestepping Harry to seat himself next to Hermione, who rolled her eyes at their childishness.

"Are you wizards or not?" She got out, before collapsing into another fit of giggles. Draco smirked, and leaned into her, whispering something inaudible into her ear.

"Would you three like me to take you down to daycare, or shall we get on?" Kingsley said after a few minutes. "Believe it or not, I _do_have a job to do.

"Daycare," Harry and Draco said together, whilst simultaneously giving each other looks of confusion. Hermione sighed, and put a hand to her face.

"Don't mind them, Kingsley. You said you had some things to tell us? About the Professor?" She asked tentatively. Her voice was slightly muffled, thanks to her hands still covering her whole face. Thankfully, Kingsley understood the gist of what she had been trying to say.

"Yes, I do have some things to tell you," he took a deep breath, and then sighed. "But you're not going to like them. I've had a team of Aurors watching him, around the clock, and what they've found isn't good. Snape has been meeting Death Eaters. Former Death Eaters, suspected Death Eaters, released Death Eaters. He even met the original Rosier, and Lestrange. They were close friends of Riddle, in their school days, but we could never prove anything against them. He met Selwyn, Mulciber and Dolohov, known Death Eaters who we've never caught. There were five Aurors there, we still didn't catch _any_of them. And he's been meeting younger wizards too; Lots of your old Slytherin classmates, Draco, and others that you would know from your school days. Wizards with links to the Death Eaters.

"He's been seeing witches too. Lots of witches. The wives and mothers of Death Eaters. Their sisters, and cousins, their nieces. He's branching out. Riddle didn't have a very high opinion of most witches so he's-"

"What about Bellatrix Lestrange?" Harry cut in suddenly.

"And my Mother?" Draco added sharply.

"It seems that the Black women were the only women to change his mind. Something to do with the way they were raised, or so Andromeda would lead me to believe. It was apparently made clear to her that if she were to rid herself of her husband that she would be welcomed into the ranks."

"Narcissa is a Malfoy, Kingsley." Harry protested stubbornly.

"Harry you complete and utter prat," Hermione snapped as Draco's face contorted painfully. "Draco's Mother's maiden name is Black. She was the youngest sister of Andromeda and Bellatrix."

"Nice family history, Hermione." Kingsley nodded as Harry's confused scowl turned apologetic.

"Of course she knows the family history. It will be hers one day." Draco snapped finally.

"You're engaged?" Harry stood fully up out of his chair and his eyebrows pulled together to give him a 'hurt-puppy-dog' look. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"We are _not_engaged." Hermione stated vehemently.

"Yet." Draco added. "I've proposed twice already. She won't agree until she's made Head of her department." He looked up at Kingsley suddenly. "Isn't any way you could drop a hint or- OW!" Draco was cut off by a jab in the arm from Hermione

"Carry on, Kingsley." Hermione said, magnanimously ignoring her lover's scowls. "You were saying the Professor had been seeing witches linked to the Death Eaters?"

"Ah, yes. Of course. He has been seeing witches and wizards all linked to the Death Eaters in some manner. I have an Auror ready to swear that she saw him entertain three vampires, and he lunched with several werewolves. Here comes the kicker though; He's been meeting with various Muggle-borns too. Ministry employees. A pair of Aurors. And he's been seen with Order members too. Bill Weasley, Remus Lupin, Emmeline Vance, Dedalus Diggle, Hestia Jones… But we can't arrest him. As far as we can tell, he's done nothing illegal. We're pushing the limit just watching him." Kingsley ran the palm of his hand up his forehead and pushed back his hair, a frustrated scowl in place on his face.

"Why don't you just ask them what he's said?" Harry cocked his head.

"Every one of them that we've spoken to says that they haven't talked to him, haven't seen him."

"Veritaserum." Draco offered.

"Illegal."

"Legillimency." Hermione suggested.

"Name _one_Legillimens."

"Me," Harry said, at the same time as Draco and Hermione said "Harry," Kingsley's jaw dropped dramatically.

"Thank you _so__much_for telling me this," he retorted, voice dripping with sarcasm. "You could have been so useful!"

"For the Professor only. And I won't be able to get into his mind, you know." Harry told Kingsley sternly.

"But-" Kingsley was cut off by a man barrelling into the office, gasping for breath, obviously having run from lower down in the Ministry.

"They're gone!" The man hissed in an undertone. "All of them, the whole team. No word, no sign, nothing. We need to get everyone there, ASAP!"

- HBP - HBP - HBP - HBP - HBP -

Hermione was very impressed with the speed the Auror department showed when there was trouble at hand. Her Muggle-born mind still equated them with their Muggle equivalent of doughnut-eating Policemen from cartoons. Seven short minutes after the alarm had been raised, the vast majority of the Auror department, plus Harry, Draco and Hermione had been split into three teams and were all apparating en masse to each of their locations.

The team Harry was with apparated to Hogwarts, to raid Snape's quarters, whilst Draco was placed with the Spinner's End team, who were going to raid the house there. Hermione, judged to be the least recognisable member of the trio went to a Wizarding pub in Knockturn Alley, the last place that the missing team of Aurors reported from.

- HBP - HBP - HBP - HBP - HBP -

"Malfoy, you get near the front; he's your Godfather, his wards have more chance of recognising you." The Auror leading the Spinner's End team called back.

"If he has any of the same wards as he did the last time I was here, I can do more than get in, I can dismantle them in less than a minute." Draco pushed his way to the front of the team of Aurors, and led them to the small, dilapidated-looking terraced house that belonged to his Godfather.

He stood three feet back from a small wooden gate with peeling white paint. A young Auror attempted to step past him, but Draco threw an arm across his chest.

"Look, the place is a wreck, it's obvious he hasn't maintained it!" The man muttered heatedly.

"Or perhaps, he left it too look like this because if you touch the gate, you will _burn_. Can't you feel the Muggle-Repelling charms already? Strong ones too, I'd be surprised if there's a Muggle that still lives on this street. Let me check out the wards." Draco snapped angrily as he raised his wand arm.

"_Revelatio!__" _he intoned, swinging his arm in a wide arc from left to right. A matrix of different coloured criss-crossing lines appeared in front of him. They covered the entire house in a dome shape, and all of the entry points to the house were warded even more securely. "Of course he hasn't maintained it." Draco looked over to the young Auror slyly, before turning to the rest of the Aurors waiting. "We're looking for a mustard yellow coloured ward," he called to them. "If he's left it up, I can take them all down." The group of Aurors, about ten of them, all scrutinised the building.

"There it is!" shouted an older woman, her finger outstretched to an attic window. Sure enough, just a peek of the mustard ward was visible. Draco smiled menacingly, pointing his wand up at the part he could see.

"Close your eyes and duck your heads," he advised the Aurors. "_Scorpius!__"_ The ward burst into bright flames which reached out to the other wards and tongues of flame flickered to life there. Within a minute all of the wards were flaming. Within two minutes they had all collapsed. "You can open your eyes now," Draco told the Aurors. The young Auror whom he had mocked a moment before raised his wand arm.

"_Revelatio!__"_ Nothing happened. No wards appeared, and no flames erupted. "_Homenum__Revelio!__"_ The tip of his wand glowed red, and he looked at his senior officer almost pleadingly.

"We go in," the man said slowly. "but be careful; there's no telling what Snape may have put in that place.

- HBP - HBP - HBP - HBP - HBP -

"Now, we're going to have to surround this pub, and place an Anti-Apparition charm around the pub to prevent anyone from leaving. At the first sight of an Auror, most of these people will run. Miss Granger, if you could please just stay behind me?" Auror Dawlish said coolly. John Dawlish believed himself to be a gentleman, however the vast majority of the women he had met preferred to refer to him as 'a sexist bastard'. Hermione, never having previously met the man, had never had a chance to form an opinion on the matter, but, at that moment, had she been pressed to decide, she would have erred on the side of agreement.

"Or perhaps, Auror Dawlish, I could enter the pub myself? I am not an Auror, they would not recognise me. I could ascertain whether the Professor is there, or not." Hermione replied, her voice even.

"Well, that's hardly a job for a wo-" Hermione glared at him, eyes narrowing dangerously. "That is to say, you aren't a trained Auror. This sort of thing is better left to the professionals."

"May I remind you of the war I fought in? I daresay I know more curses and hexes than the lot of you put together. I will send up red sparks if I am in trouble, and green ones if the Professor is there." Hermione stepped around Dawlish. "If you'll just excuse me?" she called as she walked away, not bothering to turn her head to catch Dawlish's angry response.

- HBP - HBP - HBP - HBP - HBP -

Harry and Kingsley led the Aurors at a brisk jog up the long winding path from the gates of Hogwarts to the main entrance. As the castle came into clear view they saw a stern, scowling Headmistress awaiting them.

"What is the meaning of-" she began angrily. "Harry? Kingsley?" McGonagall's eyes bulged slightly. "What are you doing? And where is my Potions Master?"

"We were hoping you could tell us, Minerva." Kingsley replied as he strode up the main steps. "We need you to let us into his quarters."

"And why should I-" Minerva swung around to confront Kingsley, but was sidetracked by Harry's soft tactics.

"Minerva, it's important that we get in there. We need to check his things, to see what we can find. There's no suggestion that he's done anything wrong, but if we are to have any chance of finding him, it needs to start now." He held her eyes, reaching a hand to clasp one of hers. "Please, you can get past his wards…" Minerva sighed, then turned and trotted out of the entrance hall, stopping in the doorway.

"Come on then! I haven't got all day!" Harry thought he saw the barest trace of a smirk as she turned left, out of the doorway, and the Aurors all but ran to catch up with her.

- HBP - HBP - HBP - HBP - HBP -

Draco entered the house first, wand in hand, prepared to duck and run at any sign of danger. He moved with purpose to his Godfather's private study, and began to rummage through the papers that lay there.

"Anything interesting there?" An older Auror with a scar across his face asked. Draco shook his head ruefully.

"Just receipts for Potions ingredients… it's all fairly mundane things. Wait, no, this one isn't. Aconite, Acromantula venom, Ashwinder eggs, belladonna, boomslang skin, buboter pus, bulbadox juice… This is basically the entire Ministry restricted list. All of it. Bought at once." Draco scanned down to the bottom of the list. "Dammit. He's _got_to be up to something."

The Auror peered over his shoulder, eyebrows rising as he read the whole way through the list. Draco handed it over when he himself had finished reading, and began to dig through the desk once more, before he had a better idea. He sprinted back down the stairs and entered the living room.

"Madam Prince," he said respectfully, bowing low. The Aurors looked befuddled for a moment, until the portrait above the mantelpiece spoke softly.

"Grand-nephew," she responded. "Why are you here and not my son?"

"There has been some… trouble, with my Godfather, Madam Prince. I came to seek your guidance." Draco said quickly. The woman in the portrait raised her chin, eyes flicking around the room.

"Leave, all of you. I wish to speak with my Grand-nephew alone." Draco nodded reassuringly at the Aurors who looked quizzically at him.

When Draco emerged, ten minutes later, his face was as white as a sheet.

"What did she say, boy?" The Auror in charge asked in an authoritive tone. Draco merely shook his head.

"Where is Harry?" He asked, face pinched. "I need to speak to Harry." Without waiting for an answer, he pirouetted on the spot and disappeared.

- HBP - HBP - HBP - HBP - HBP -

Before Hermione entered the pub, she transfigured her functional jeans and flannel shirt to a red wrap dress that came to mid-thigh, her robes to a mini velvet jacket in black, and her worn sneakers to velvet ankle boots. She charmed her hair to fall in soft waves, and lightened it a shade or two.

When she entered she strode straight to the bar, noting absently that she was the only woman in sight. The barkeep dropped the glass he had been polishing as she sashayed straight towards him.

"Red wine," she said slowly, pulling her lower lip seductively through her teeth. The barman was gone only a moment, and returned smiling at her with a glass in hand. Hermione leaned in closer. "So, won't you tell me which of the gentlemen here is Severus Snape?"

"What do you want him for? Ugly bastard shouldn't be near a woman like you." The bartender leered.

"He is powerful… And I have heard rumours about him. I need something from him." She ran a hand across her cheek delicately. "You don't know where I could find him, do you?"

"I don't, no. But Jesse might be able to help you." He looked down at the other side of the bar, where a man slumped drunk. "Jesse! Wake up! This lady wants your attention!" Hermione smiled at the man as his eyes drifted open. He sidled down the bar to sit on the stool next to her.

"Whaddya wan'?" he slurred. "Wanna have me tonight, do ya? Well I don' do tha' no more." Jesse pushed up the sleeve of his right arm, and blinked at the clear skin there for a moment, before pushing up the sleeve of his left arm.

When Hermione left the pub, moments later, her face was as white as porcelain, and her legs were shaking.

"Harry," she whispered to Dawlish. "Oh gods, I need Harry!" A moment later she span on the spot and apparated away.

- HBP - HBP - HBP - HBP - HBP -

Hermione reached Hogwarts first, stumbling as she landed. She gasped, taking a deep choking breath, before looking up. Harry stood just outside of the gates, smoking a Muggle cigarette. His face was pointed to the sky, his shoulders dropped low.

When Draco apparated in, Hermione had only moved a few steps towards Harry. He caught up with her in two short strides, taking her hand and squeezing tightly. He said nothing, only looking at her pale, pinched face. He was sure his face was a mirror image of hers.

They approached Harry from behind. He only noticed them as Hermione slipped her hand inside of his. He turned to look at his friends, three ashen faces staring at each other.

"He's really gone bad, hasn't he?" Harry whispered shakily. "I… it's… damnit, I can't lose anyone else! I can't lose you, Hermione! You're all I've got!" He span away, conjuring another cigarette.

"You won't lose her," Draco stepped up behind him. "I can promise you that. We won't have another war. We can do without it. We just need to talk things through first, pool what we know." He looked encouragingly at Hermione, who obligingly stepped in front of Harry.

"He's marking people, like Voldemort marked people. Modified Protean charms, embedded in a magical tattoo, works both ways. We could probably pull him to us through the mark." She looked to Draco.

"But not everybody who takes the mark is willing. There's some sort of mind control in the mark. I think it's most likely an alteration on the Imperius curse. If we can get enough people to fight against it, he won't have the strength to hold it, so they'll snap out of it." Draco said, seemingly in one breath. Hermione put her hand under Harry's chin.

"Come on, Harry, you can tell us anything. What happened? What did you see?"

"It's Remus," Harry threw away the cigarette, and buried his face in Hermione's neck, arms wrapped tightly around her waist. "Gods, he got Remus!"

"We can break the Imperius, Harry. We can get him back," Draco rubbed soothing circles onto the other man's back.

"No," Harry's voice was thick with tears now. "You don't understand. He _killed_Remus. Because Remus knew. And that means we're next."


	5. Chapter 4: The Lies

- Chapter 4 -

The Lies

Harry sat alone in his study bouncing a conjured ball off the wall. Hermione and Draco had commandeered his library trying to come up with ways to remove the mark from the arms of the unwilling. Harry had tried to help, really he had, but the pair left him for dead when it came to academia. Hermione had always been smart, but with Draco added into the equation they bounced ideas off each other, each one getting further and further away from Harry's original ideas.

The ball bounced back and hit his face. Harry took that as a clue to stop throwing it, and wordlessly vanished the ball. He sighed, now faced with the prospect of hours with nothing to do. He collapsed backwards onto his bed, before jumping up and heading to the library.

"Maybe I can convince them to play exploding snap," Harry thought aloud, but as he opened the double doors of his library he balked at the domestic scene. Draco and Hermione were on the loveseat-style sofa. Draco's arm was around Hermione, who appeared to be happily asleep. Draco stroked her hair gently, unable to keep a smile from his face. He looked up as Harry entered, putting a finger across his smiling lips.

"Don't wake sleeping beauty," Draco teased half heartedly, his smile proving to be infectious as Harry grinned in response.

"I'm just gonna go for a walk on the grounds, Draco. I won't be long, just didn't want you guys to freak if you couldn't find me." Harry shrugged his shoulders, and leaned against the doorframe.

"Us guys to freak? Yeah, cause I'm the one who freaks out." Draco snorted with laughter, jolting Hermione from her position on his chest.

"Draco?" She mumbled sleepily. "Wha's goin'on?"

"Nothing, baby. Just go back to sleep, it's okay." Hermione muttered something indistinguishable, while she buried her face into Draco's neck. Harry smiled softly at the pair; Draco had resumed his almost pathological stroking of Hermione's hair. It seemed to Harry that Draco was constantly stroking her hair. Once, when they had been drunk, Draco had admitted that his father had stroked his mother's hair - the only sign of affection Draco had ever seen between his parents.

"Hey, Draco, I'll tell you what," Harry smirked at Draco's raised eyebrow. "If you let her drool on that shirt, I'll admit it's love." Harry ducked the badly thrown cushion reflexively as he shut the library door and headed into the grounds.

As he ambled across the lawns, he wished that he'd thought to bring his broom; it was a perfect day for flying. Only a moment later he stood stock still, shocked that he could have even considered flying. Remus Lupin - his father's best friend, _his_friend, his mentor - was dead. _And__it__'__s__all__my__fault,_Harry thought bitterly.

He knew that Hermione and Draco would tell him it wasn't so, but deep down Harry had no doubt who was really to blame for Remus' death. For it had been _Harry_who had asked Remus to speak with Severus several years back. If it hadn't been for Harry's request, it was unlikely that the two childhood enemies would have come into close contact with each other again.

And, of course, the kicker was that Remus had known that something was wrong. Hadn't Remus stood in Harry's own home and _told_them that Snape wasn't right? And hadn't Harry ignored the man's fears? Harry collapsed at the base of an old Oak tree, lost in his thoughts.

He felt his extensive wards twitch slightly, but paid no attention to the small disturbance. If it had been anything dangerous, or sentient the wards would have set off a loud alarm - not that Harry would have paid any attention to an alarm anyway.

Despite the advance warning, Harry was more than a little shocked as an owl landed in front of him, left leg outstretched. Automatically, Harry reached out and untied the ribbon holding the roll of parchment to the owl's leg. He unrolled it too, without thinking, and stared enraptured into the writing mass of snakes that covered the page.

"_Will__you__come?__" _They asked, voices perfectly clear to Harry.

"_Yessssss,__I__will__come.__" _Harry replied, and promptly disappeared. The owl, seemingly used to such occurrences flew lazily back to the Post Office that it had been hired from.

In the library upstairs, Hermione started awake.

"He's gone," she said, puzzled. "Draco, where's he gone?"

"Who's gone?" Draco looked down at her in confusion. "I'm right here,"

"Harry! The wards woke me, he's gone!" Hermione sat up and ran a hand through her hair in frustration, eyes wide.

"Well, shit." Was all Draco could think of to say, as his head dropped into his hands. "Shit."

- HBP - HBP - HBP - HBP - HBP -

Harry landed on his feet, though due to the fact he had been sitting when the letter-portkey had activated, he ended up in an odd sort of crouch. His wand was in his hand without him thinking, and his eyes automatically scanning the empty room for any sign of danger.

It probably said something about Harry that he had adapted to living under war conditions so easily. Privately, Hermione thought that Dumbledore's manipulations in their early years had made Harry unsuitable to anything but fighting, but Harry would argue that it had more to do with boredom than any other factor. Or maybe he'd never stopped expecting Voldemort to turn up again.

The sound of creaking wood had Harry spinning round to face the only door into the room. With another half-second of thought, Harry manoeuvred himself to the far side of the door, flat against the wall - the least likely place for anyone on the other side of the door to look, or hex at. The door swung open into the room, concealing Harry behind it, although he made sure to cast a wordless _Protego_for safety's sake.

The door pulled backwards suddenly, exposing Harry. His jaw dropped at the man who stood before him, his wand dropping almost instinctively.

"Mister Weasley?"

"_Stupefy!__"_

- HBP - HBP - HBP - HBP - HBP -

When Harry woke up, his head was pounding. He raised a groggy hand to his temple, the other checked surreptitiously for his wand. No such luck, unfortunately.

"Constant vigilance," breathed a rough voice in his left ear. "You should have kept your shield up, or at least your wand. How did you know that it was Arthur Weasley? How did you know it wasn't someone polyjuiced to _look_like Arthur Weasley?" Harry rolled his eyes.

"Give me some credit. Polyjuice doesn't replicate temporary injuries. Arthur had the burn on his cheek that Hermione gave him the day before yesterday." Harry sat up slowly, and raised his other hand to his forehead too. "I don't suppose there's any chance of some Pepper-Up and a headache potion is there Snape?"

"I'm not Snape!" The voice whined petulantly. "You haven't even turned around. I'm Moody!"

"Alastor Moody is dead." Harry rolled his eyes again. "Potions?" Harry was pulled around quickly, and found himself facing the very much dead Mad-Eye Moody. Harry snorted. "Snape, I know you have potions, and if you want a sane conversation then I bloody need some. There's no need to go round stupefying people, you know?" Three bottles were roughly thrust into his hands by the sulky-Auror. "Identifying charm, so I know what I'm drinking, please?" The man muttered something with a scowl and waved his wand at the bottles. The names of a well known pain reliever, a headache potion and an anti-infection potion appeared in the air above the bottles. Harry sighed gratefully and downed all three one after the other.

"How did you know I wasn't Moody?" the impostor said, brows furrowed.

"I saw his body," Harry said stiffly. "And the only person with the bloody patience to brew Polyjuice regularly, other than Hermione is Snape. Now, Hermione is asleep at my house, which makes you Snape. So, Snape, what do you want?" The man scowled, and fell back on his heels.

"I want you to join me," he said with a disconcerting smile. "And you really shouldn't call me Snape, you know. I'm not Snape. I'm almost-Snape." Harry tilted his head to one side with a frown.

"Then what's the rest of you?" Harry asked. "The part that isn't Snape, who's that?"

"Take a guess-ssssssssssss," Not-Snape hissed menacingly.

"Nagini?" Harry guessed. "Are you trying to speak Parseltongue? Because it's not working, you know?"

"Isn't it? I was wondering why the snakes didn't like me. Oh well. I'll give you a clue." Moody's doppelganger leaned across Harry, and stabbed a pointy finger at Harry's forehead.

"Tom Riddle?" Harry's voice darkened slightly, and his eyes narrowed slightly. Moody let out a near-hysterical giggle, his normal eye alight with glee for as long as it took to blink. For when Harry did blink, Moody still sat there, but his face was as sour as Snape's had ever been.

"That is correct, Potter." He had the exact same intonation as Snape now, and a deadly serious expression. Harry narrowed his eyes as the Auror transformed back into Snape. "The Dark Lord is within me. It's funny, really, that you're the reason he is. You gave him the idea, seeing as you were a Horcrux. You see, when Nagini bit my throat, he transferred the Horcrux from her, to me. The cup and the locket? When you destroyed them, they only had the barest traces of him in them. When you destroyed his body, he was barely there."

"So he's in you, or you're in him?" Harry clarified, trying frantically to keep his breathing under control.

"He's in me." Snape said after a slight pause. "If you mean that in that his soul is within my body. But he is in control, most of the time. He is allowing me to explain this to you now. He doesn't want to kill you." Snape's head twitched to the left, his eyes squeezing shut. When they opened again, his eyes were blood red. "No, Harry. I want you to _join__me_." The eyes flickered and spluttered from red to black, and then back again.

Harry edged backwards, on his hands and knees, away from Snape, whose eyes were still flickering. Eventually, they settled on black, and the man looked up desperately.

"Harry - Potter!" He rasped, as if struggling to speak. "You must kill me! Kill me now!" He fumbled with his robes, throwing a wand at Harry. "Kill me!" His voice cracked on the last word, tears escaping from his eyes. "Please!" And then the eyes closed, and Snape breathed in deeply through his nose.

"He is somewhat… damaged," the voice was colder than Snape's had ever been, and more nasal. "I had been transferring my soul into him slowly, up until the Final Battle. Lucius, too. But then, I could see that too many would die in the fight. I wouldn't have enough to take over. So when Nagini bit him - me - I transferred the Horcrux within her to this body. And I transferred as much of the soul in my body to this one too. I knew you were watching." The red eyes met Harry's emerald ones. "Join with me, Harry. Together, we could be great. Apart, we will destroy the other."

"What do you want me to do?" Harry asked slowly.

"Swear an oath to aid me," was the immediate response. Harry nodded in agreement, raising his wand to his palm, cutting it open with a non-verbal command. Snape did the same.

The two men stood, wands in right hands, bloodied palms of their left hands. They faced each other, grasping the other's wand with a bloody palm. Harry tilted his head to Snape, who sighed slightly before speaking.

"By the blood of my hand, and the wood of your wand, I swear that I shall do all that I can to aid you and those of your blood, until the last drops of my blood do fall." He said formally, raising an eyebrow at Harry.

"By the blood of my hand, and the wood of your wand, I swear that I shall do all that I can to aid you and those of your blood, until the last drops of my blood do fall." Harry repeated the ancient words, slightly more slowly than Snape had. Both men looked at each other and began to speak at the same time.

"By blood it is sworn, and by wand it is given." The wands glowed a peach colour, and Harry felt the cut on his hand sew itself shut, and could feel his magic aiding Snape. Once the healing was complete, the two men stepped apart.

"I have to go," Harry broke the silence first. "There were people at my house, they'll be wondering where I went." Snape merely nodded.

"I will contact you." Snape said as he threw the letter back at Harry, who grabbed for it without thinking. There was a sudden spinning sensation, and Harry was standing at the base of the tree where he had first Portkeyed from.

The first sensation he registered was a punch to the face, and then another. Next, a hex slashed open his left side. The second hex, Harry ducked under, wand out to face his attacker… only to see…

"Draco?" Harry's brow furrowed in confusion. "Why are you-? Augh!" While Harry had been focused on Draco's face, the other man's wand had sent out another hex, this one hitting his leg.

"That should do it," Malfoy mused. "Just trust me. Whoever Portkeyed you away did this, Hermione will go easier on you." Harry frowned, about to argue the point, when he heard the scream.

"HARRY JAMES POTTER!" Both men looked over Harry's shoulder to see a furious Hermione making her way out of the house, followed by at least three other people. Aurors, Harry presumed. "WHAT WERE YOU THINKING? WE WERE ALL SO WORRIED, AND THEN YOU JUST SWAN BACK HERE LIKE…!" Her voice lowered as she got close enough to see the blood on Harry's face, leg and side.

"See what I mean?" Draco mumbled, too low for his girlfriend to hear. Harry nodded, slightly dumbstruck. Hermione had been in full temper, ready to disembowel him, and now she looked horrified that she had yelled at all.

"Oh, gods, Harry!" she wailed, still as high pitched, but decidedly preferable to the shouting. "Stay still, let me heal you." While Hermione was involved in repairing the wound on his leg, Harry grinned gratefully at Draco.

"Mister Potter," The Aurors had reached them, seeming to have arrived at the precise moment Hermione had stopped shouting. Cowards. "We would like to take a statement from you at the Ministry." Harry's back was instantly raised at the supercilious tone from the Auror.

"What, precisely, is your name?" Harry asked, a dark tone coming into his voice. "I've never seen you before. How long have you worked as an Auror?" The man stepped back, obviously shocked with Harry's abrupt manner. Hermione stood, and put her hand soothingly on her best friend's chest.

"It's okay, Harry." She said softly. "It's okay. They're Aurors. It's safe, I promise you." Harry growled, and pushed her behind him, pulling his wand up to point at the lead Auror's face.

It was Draco, who took control of the situation, moving to stand next to Harry with an air that suggested that this type of situation occurred on a regular basis. His wand wasn't in his hand, but its holster was easily visible. Draco's chin had raised about three inches, and in that moment he looked exactly the Pureblooded heir he had been raised, looking down his nose at the Ministry officials.

"I am sure, that you can see the need for Mister Potter here to rest at home before he is subjected to reliving the clearly traumatizing experience of being kidnapped, can you not?" The question was artfully phrased that the Aurors could only agree. "And I am also equally sure that Mister Potter is a capable wizard, and will be able to Apparate to your offices once he feels ready to talk about what has happened." Although his second sentence was more of a statement than a question, the Aurors nodded in time. "Thank you, gentlemen. In that case, Miss Granger will raise the wards for you to Apparate out. There is no further need for your presence here." Again, the men had no choice but to obey the dismissal, thanks to Draco's manner.

As soon as they had left, Draco put his arm around Harry's waist, and the other man's arm around his shoulder. He had seen Harry after conflict - the boy deflated fast. Sure enough, as the pair were walking back across the gardens and into the house, Harry sagged against Draco, who used all of his considerable strength to get his friend safely into the house. Shortly before they reached the door, Draco stopped.

"Bugsy!" Draco called for the House Elf his parents had gifted him with years previously. The elf immediately appeared in front of the trio, eyes glittering at finally being allowed to help his Master. "I would like for you to bring a tea tray with brandy to the ground floor study, where I will be. Please, wait for us there, and once we have entered the room, you will use your magic to seal the room against intruders, and against eavesdroppers of any kind. You will only remove the wards at the direct command of either myself, or Miss Granger, using the password of '_satin__'_. I will give you further instructions in the study." The elf popped away, beaming at having instructions.

Hermione frowned at Draco, while she had known he had a House Elf, she had never approved of the usage of Magical Creatures as servants. Draco stilled her with a shake of his head, nodding at Harry, and motioning for her to be quiet. Hermione sighed, but took Harry's other side, and helped Draco to bring Harry indoors, to the study.

Sure enough, the elf was in the study before them, and as the pair of them got Harry settled into a chair, Bugsy waved his arms, causing the room to glow a light blue colour. He looked with wide eyes at Draco, who gestured for the elf to speak.

"There is being a spell to listen, Master!" he said in a hoarse voice. Draco growled slightly in the back of his throat.

"Thank you, Bugsy. That is your next job. I would like you to search this entire house for any listening charms, or eavesdropping charms. Can you feel our three magical signatures?" The elf nodded. "Any spells left by the three of us may stay, but you know the sorts of spells I wish you to search for."

"Would Master like them removed, too?" He asked eagerly. Draco nodded.

"And, Bugsy, once you have searched this house, I would like for you to do the same for the apartment of Hermione Granger also. Understood?" Bugsy smiled, and with a pop had disappeared from the room. Draco turned to Harry and Hermione, his face grim. "Okay, Harry, let's do this. Hermione woke up because the wards alerted her that a Portkey you hadn't authorised had activated. We searched for you, but realised that the Portkey had taken you. I'm assuming that it was Snape?" Harry nodded, dumbstruck by Draco's forceful attitude. He had only ever really seen the younger Malfoy outside of war, and, having never been one of his friends at Hogwarts was consequently woefully unaware of Draco's knack for strategy.

"What did he do, Harry?" Hermione asked fearfully. "Did he hurt you?" Draco's eyes widened comically from behind his girlfriend.

"Only a little, at first," Harry lied, praying to whichever Gods would listen that Hermione would believe him. "But then he talked to me. He wanted me to join him." In a flash, Draco's wand was out, and he stood in front of Hermione.

"Bare your arms," he said darkly. Hermione tried to get round him, but he stood firm. "I'll take no chances," he told her lowly, before raising his voice again. "Bare your arms, Potter." Harry did so slowly, careful to not present a threat to a clearly defensive Draco, showing clear, unmarked skin. Draco relaxed, pulling Hermione into him, and gesturing for Harry to join them. He spoke thickly into Hermione's hair. "I'm sorry… I just can't take any chances."

"You're right to be careful," Harry grasped Draco's wrist tightly. "I swore a wand oath to aid Snape." As Harry had predicted, Draco pulled his wrist upwards, obviously to curse Harry, but the other man's strong grip prevented Draco from raising his wand at all. Hermione meanwhile stood to the side of them, having been released by both men, her eyes wide and her brow furrowed. "Come on, Hermione, think it through," Harry mumbled to himself, biting his own lip.

"You definitely made an oath to help Snape, Harry?" She asked, suddenly. Harry nodded. "And not to help Riddle?" Harry grinned.

"Got it in one; Granger strikes again." Harry smiled, releasing Draco as the idea sunk into the blonde's head.

"Potter, you should have been a Slytherin." He said wonderingly. "We're going to save Snape."


	6. Chapter 5: The Withdrawal

- Chapter 5 -

The Withdrawal

Draco and Hermione encased themselves in the library for three solid days while Harry worked with a few select Aurors and Order members on ways of stopping Snape's followers. Kingsley Shacklebolt shared an old spell that could be used to increase the willpower of a person, and with the help of two Unspeakables from the Department of Mysteries they altered it slightly to travel through the mark that Snape's followers carried. This would mean that those people on whom the Imperius curse was working would be able to break free, and those who fought would do so under their own free will. Kingsley also promised Harry a near army of Aurors and Hitwizards, and a medical team.

They were all preparing for Harry's call to war, this time. After the first war, it had been ensured that there would be no bureaucracy bungles that gave way to a loss of life. The Ministry had been sued by several families who saw that if the Ministry had allowed its Aurors to become involved their loved ones may still have lived. Of course, in war it was impossible that there not be lives lost but so many deaths in such a small community could not go unnoticed by any.

After three days, Hermione and Draco emerged from the library. Hermione looked exceedingly happy, but Draco was pouting. He explained later to Harry, that Hermione had cut off carnal relations until they had put together a suitable spell. Harry had been hard pressed not to snort with laughter over that, remembering the many times over their years at Hogwarts that Hermione had denied he and Ron the pleasures of the Quidditch field before they had completed their essays.

In any case, Hermione had laid out all of their research in front of Harry, showing him the different spells they had combined, using a variant of traditional Arithmancy. They did warn that if the spell merge failed, then each of the separate elements would work on its own. _Tergeo, _meant a liquid would be siphoned up, _Evanesco, _meant that an inanimate object would vanish, and _Avada Kedavra_, meant that Snape still might die.

Harry had struggled with that idea. Snape was the important one in this. He told Hermione and Draco that he could cope with the loss of Snape, but in private he practiced sending out charms, and then throwing himself in front of his wand. If the spell merge failed, it would be him that would die, not Snape, not by his wand.

In the days that they waited for Voldemort/Snape to summon Harry, all three of the trio spent a lot of time thinking.

Draco clutched tightly to Hermione, promising himself that he would be by her side in battle, and he would do as Weasley had done for her in the first war and sacrifice himself for her if needs be. Hermione had been the single good thing about his life after the war. Sure, more recently the public had been better to him, partly thanks to his newfound friendship with Harry, but in his heart he knew that he wouldn't live without Hermione.

Hermione practiced jinxes, hexes and curses on a Duelling-Dummy, resolute that she would not let Harry down, that she would not fail this time. She spent a lot of time in the library, coming up with the strongest possible shields, swearing to herself that she would use the last of her strength to shield others, to protect Harry and Draco, no matter the cost.

And Harry prepared for what he saw as inevitable - his death. In a drawer in his study was his Will, in full. He had decided to leave most of his estate to Hermione, meaning that in essence everything had been left to Draco as well. He left various monetary amounts to members of the Order, and several charities both Muggle and Magical. And then, he said his goodbyes.

To the familiars of his Manor, to the rooms in his home. The people who were fighting, the people who were not. He went to various graveyards, and lay flowers, black roses, at the stones of his fallen friends. Finally, there was only one grave left to visit. Ron's.

Harry sank to his knees and rested his head on the smooth, white marble. A tear slid down his face, and he drew in a deep shuddering breath as he pulled away, and sat down in front of the stone.

"Hey, Ron," he said quietly. "It hasn't been that long, it just feels like it's been forever. Remus is - Remus is gone. He's with you now, and I'll bet anything you're beating him at chess right now." Harry sighed, and his shoulders sank. "I don't suppose that anyone's told you, or maybe you're watching down from above, or something, but things are getting bad, again. Voldemort's back, and he's inside of Snape. And we don't know if the prophecy's still going, so I've got to be the one to sort it. They want to send me in with a whole team of Aurors and stuff but I'm pretty sure I'm gonna do it my own way.

"You see, Snape's not that bad, not like we used to think. He never really had a chance at life, and after the war, Voldemort must have just been eating away at the back of his head. And, you know, I've had a good life so far. If you take away all of the crap about the war… But the last few years have been great to me. Snape's never had that. I want to give it to him. No matter how much it costs.

"I won't lie to you Ron, I'm scared. Not about dying or anything, just about failing. We've got a plan to save him, me, Hermione and Draco. The only thing is, I might not make it. Draco knows, but Hermione hasn't figured it out yet. That I plan to go through with it, I mean. That I'll sacrifice myself for Snape. If I do… go… I won't mind. It's not like I'd be losing much, is it? After all, I'll get to see you again. I miss you, Ron. I'll always miss you."

- HBP - HBP - HBP - HBP - HBP -

Harry watched with shadowed eyes as the veritable squadron of Aurors practiced drills on his front lawn. They were all waiting. Waiting for the inevitable call to battle, they were all ready to fight, to give their lives. All these men, and women, willing to sacrifice themselves for _the cause._ Harry shook his head in disgust. _This _was why Dumbledore had gone insane, in the end. _This _was why Voldemort had gone power crazy. _This _was how Dark Lords were made.

It was wrong to put so much faith in any one person, no matter who they were, or what they'd done before. As someone important, at some point, had said 'Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men.' [1] Harry's psychiatrist had been very into Muggle methods, and Muggle quotes.

He breathed in sharply through his nose as his wards alerted him to an owl on the premises. He'd keyed Hermione out of the Owl wards, and such, on the premise that she was going to get a headache from the amount of activity. In actuality, Harry had adjusted all of the wards of his house. The only things that could get in were from Snape. Voldemort. Whoever. And once Harry had left the house, the rest of them would be sealed in, until they could either dismantle the wards, or use the correct password. Either option would take hours. Harry would be alone for battle.

Hermione and Draco had already given him their combined spell, it was a mixture of _Avada Kedavra,_ _Tergeo _and _Evanesco_. It also had a few elements of _Legillimency _meaning that Harry would have to stare into Snape's eyes for a minute, or maybe more. But he would do it. There was no other choice.

If the first war had taught him anything, it was that loss was unacceptable. As his eyes skimmed over his remaining friends and family, his jaw set. There wasn't a person who stood with him that he couldn't stand to lose. Hermione, the sister he'd never had, and Draco, who had all but turned against his family for his belief in Harry. Mrs Weasley, and Mr Weasley, parents, of a sort. Remus, his most steadfast supporter… They would _not _risk themselves, not this time. Not for _him._

The owl reached his position, on one of his towers. It was a beautiful bird, an eagle of some kind. It landed on the windowsill, and stretched out its leg. Harry took a deep breath, and took the parchment, feeling the familiar pulling sensation drag from somewhere behind his navel, and the world began to spin.

_This is it_, he thought resolutely. _Today, it ends forever._

- HBP - HBP - HBP - HBP - HBP -

Down on the lawn, Hermione let out a screech of frustration. Her eyes had been on Harry in his tower, and she alone had seen him disappear. Before the howl had even left her mouth, she saw, rather than felt a series of wards appear around the edge of the property. Tongues of flame spread in a grid, just inside a dome of ice. The fighters stood uncertainly, wands held out at varied defensive, and offensive positions.

"Bastard!" Hermione bit out as Draco moved seamlessly to her side.

"So, he's gone then?" the blonde asked running a hand through his hair. Hermione nodded, still spitting with rage.

"I can't believe he'd risk himself like this! How can he just leave us all behind?"

"Oh, _Hermione_!" Draco's arms wrapped themselves around her waist. "Don't you get it? He can't risk _us._ You know that Ron… Ron destroyed him. I don't think he'd survive if somebody else…"

Hermione shook her head resolutely, and put her index finger over his lips.

"No, we're getting there. I don't care how long it takes." She narrowed her eyes. "Harry James Potter, I am going to make you _rue _the day you met me!"

Wisely, Draco said nothing.

- HBP - HBP - HBP - HBP - HBP -

Harry appeared in the large throne room where he'd last seen the Snape-Voldemort hybrid. The room was empty, apart from a lounging Snape with red eyes and washed hair on a golden throne. One leg hung over one of the arms, and he wore an odd sort of pout.

"Afternoon, Potter," he drawled. "Glad to see you were prompt, but I need a better way to summon you… I'm bored."

"Well then, I have an idea," Harry answered readily. "Give me one of your followers… I've been playing around with a curse or three, and my research could do with a test subject."

Snape's crimson eyes brightened with excitement as he sat up and shot a spark at the main doors to the room.

"They're so fun to curse really, aren't they? I got your wolf friend with jewellers spells to purify silver and boy did he scream!" He laughed wickedly, head lolling back. "Such a shame he was so strong - would you believe that he nearly broke out from my imperius curse? I'd have kept him if not for that."

Only the memories of Hermione building on the lessons of a very different Snape let Harry use Occlumency to hide the rage that boiled up in his chest. Remus had died because he was too strong to submit to that bastard that sat before Harry. The irony was, if Harry had been strong enough to admit that there could have been something wrong with Snape, Remus might still have been alive.

When Auror John Dawlish appeared through the wide doors, Harry turned and cast the spell that the Unspeakables had come up with.

"_Arbitrio vis_!" As predicted, Dawlish's previously glazed eyes sparked with life and his teeth gritted as the boost in strength of his willpower doubled, then doubled again.

In a flash Snape stood in front of him.

"That spell was no experiment!" He hissed viciously. "You _knew _what that spell would do!" Harry nodded, his jaw set firmly.

"Yes I did." His eyes locked with the red orbs. "It's affecting you to, Severus, the Severus that I know is getting stronger."

"He... will... not... win!" Snape was on his knees now, eyes closed, but clearly flickering from side to side in struggle.

"Not on his own he won't," Harry agreed, taking a deep breath before moving his wand in an anticlockwise circle for _Tergeo,_ a downwards slash from right to left for _Evanesco_, and the forwards stabbing motion for _Avada Kedavra_. "_Tervanesgeo Kedavra!_" Harry screamed, throwing every ounce of power he had, and then some.

Snape took a shuddering gasp and fell face first onto the marble floor. Harry sunk to his knees in horror.

"Shit," he whispered, then louder. "Shit! I killed him!"

- HBP - HBP - HBP - HBP - HBP -

Severus woke slowly, his keen sense of smell easily recognising the lack of scent left by too many uses of _Scourgify_, and the herbs used in the familiar medicinal potions. He could taste, just about, a variation on Pepper-Up potion. The Hospital Wing then, he deduced as he opened his eyes.

When the dark orbs fixed on the ceiling above him, he was confronted with his mistake. The stone that made up the ceiling was too new to be anywhere at Hogwarts, which meant that he must be in the _other_ place. St. Mungo's.

"Potter!" he rasped suddenly. "Potter, where are you, I need to... tell you. Need to give you the memories! Potter, damn you, come here! Dumbledore wanted you to have them! Take them, boy, take them! It's the only way to kill him, it has to be done!"

A much harsher, much deeper voice than Potter's spoke in a rough accent.

"Mr Potter isn't here, and I shouldn't think he'd come to visit scum like _you_!"

"Auror Robards," was the next thing that Severus heard. "I am not accustomed to giving my name, and if you force me to give it again, you will find yourself severely lacking in oxygen."

"Of course, Mr Malfoy." The gruff voice responded immediately. Severus frowned, that voice wasn't Lucius - so who _was _it? The hollow sound as a hand struck flesh echoed through the quiet room next.

"I do not appreciate you calling a war hero _scum_." A woman's voice, cultured, but not Narcissa.

"Yes, M'am." The Auror told her sullenly. Emerald green eyes appeared over his field of vision, Severus gasped.

"Potter! You need... Need the memories! To defeat _him_, please, don't let it be too late!"

"Severus, it's okay, Voldemort is dead, we beat him, it's okay. I promise, it's okay."

"No, not dead... he made... _horcruxes_!" Severus whispered the last word with wide eyes. "Don't make me remember! Take the memories!"

Severus vaguely remembered being injected with a potion in his left arm, and Potter's voice becoming incredibly shrill as he berated a Healer. When he awoke Potter had gone.

- HBP - HBP - HBP - HBP - HBP -

"Filthy scum!" Spittle landed on his cheek, Severus flinched. "Murdering, lying _bastard_!"

- HBP - HBP - HBP - HBP - HBP -

It was Draco, the Malfoy who had been so respectfully adressed, but he was... older. He clenched both his jaw and his fists when he heard that Severus had been spat on, but was stopped from taking action with the most poignant words he had ever heard.

"What have I done, Draco?" He asked, having been brought round to the five year gap in his memories. "Why can't you look me in the eyes?" A tear spilled from one of the elder man's eyes. "Please, how can I fix it?"

- HBP - HBP - HBP - HBP - HBP -

[1] Quote from John Emerich Edward Dalberg Acton, first Baron Acton (1834–1902).


	7. Epilogue: The End

- Epilogue -

The End

It was a cold day, bitterly cold, and those who stood outside were covered in thick black cloaks which billowed backwards in the wind. It was appropriate, for the event that they all waited for.

Harry had chosen the inscription, with a little help from Draco. The poor blonde boy hadn't moved from Hermione's side since… Since. The man who had once spent hours making sure that he didn't have a single hair out of place had red-rimmed eyes, and took shuddering breaths. But then again, they all did, those few that had arrived.

They had only invited those who they knew they could trust, those who had truly cared, and who still did. Harry, Hermione and Draco were in the foremost row, closest to the front. Minerva McGonagall, Kingsley Shacklebolt and Blaise Zabini stood behind them. Gathered in uneven clumps were various groups of Slytherin students, spotted in with other Hogwarts alumni such as Luna Lovegood, Cho Chang and Susan Bones. All those were welcome, it was the reporters at the gates whom Harry sincerely wished would drop dead.

The service ended abruptly, as if the wizard conducting it wanted to disassociate himself from it. Harry sneered viciously at his back, swearing to himself that he would be blacklisted from everywhere that Harry had influence. It wasn't right to spoil the day the way he had, to detract from the solemnity.

The groups split away, beginning to apparate to Potter Manor where house elves waited with refreshments, hot drinks to drive the chill from the guests' bones, and calming draughts for those who needed them.

Draco, with Hermione supporting him, made his was over to the black marble stone, tracing his fingers over the words engraved there, in silver, of course. He knelt, and pressed his forehead to the cool rock, shuddering again in tears, held again by Hermione.

Harry watched from his distance, and began to walk. Unlike the others who had left, he did not walk out of the gates, but chose another direction, taking a path he had walked more times than he cared to count.

"Hi," he croaked when he reached his friend. "I er… I need to ask you a favour. I don't reckon you'll like it, but please, just for me, this one thing, yeah, Ron?" Harry sighed deeply. "You know Muggles reckon it's a sin? That you won't go to heaven, or wherever if you kill yourself. I really hope they're wrong, 'cause if there's one person who deserves a heaven… I guess what I'm trying to say, Ron, is just look after him, if you can. And, Professor Snape, if you're listening - Thank you for everything, I'll miss you."

With that Harry Potter stood and left the graveyard. He looked back only once at the obsidian obelisk that marked the graves of the war heroes, his eyes flickering down to the matching black marble tomb. He swiped the tears away forcefully… Snape would have crucified him for crying.


End file.
